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LITTLECOTE

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LITTLECOTE

PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION
BY MESSRS. HATCH ARD, 187 PICCADILLY,
LONDON, 1900.

PREFACE
TO THE FIRST EDITION.

rpHESE pages, intended to serve as
a guide-book to Littlecote, and
printed only for private circulation, are
dedicated, with gratitude, and by way
of restitution, to all those authorities
whose writings have been piUaged by

THE COMPILEE.

V. I'^w** ^^-w^ ,

Littlecote. ^-k^^ {ipurtL.a*«t

Christmas. 1897. l^U^.-^'^^)

NOTE

TO THE SECOND EDITION.

Though there is more matter in this
edition than there was in its prede-
cessor, it is issued with the hope that
it may not contain more mistakes.

Much of the information about "Wild"
Darrell, and aU the letters relating to
him, herein quoted, have been taken
from Society in the Elizabethan Age^
by Mr. Hubert HaU, of H. M. Public
Record Office; to whom, as weU as to
Sir Lionel Darell, and to others who
have kindly allowed their MSS. to be
studied, the obligations of the compiler
are hereby gratefully acknowledged.

March, 1900.

LITTLECOTE FAMILIES.

Calston .... (circa) 1250

Darrell 1415

POPHAM 1589

Leyborne-Popham . . . 1804

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Plate

1. The South Side . . . . Frontispiece.

2. The Noeth Side ... to face page 24

3. The East End ... „ 52

4. The Hall, from the West

End „ 74

5. The Hall, from the East

End „ 76

6. The Long Gallery, from

THE West End ... „ 78

7. The Long Gallery, from

THE East End ... „ 80

8. The Chapel, from the

West End .... „ 84

9. The Garden, in Summer,

FROM William of Orange's

Wing „ 128

LITTLECOTE

THE CALSTON FAMILY.
ITTLEOOTE, in the middle of the thirteenth

century, belonged to Roger de Calston, of
Calstone, near Calne, in Wiltshire, who died in the
twentieth year of Edward the First's reign, seized of
lands at Calstone, Quemerford, Lyttlecote, Chil-
hampton. Little Durnford, and Ebbesborne Wake in
Wiltshire, and at Enham Knights in Hampshire.

He was succeeded in his estates by his son Roger,
who, at the time of his father's death, was one year old.

This Roger applied to the Bishop of Salisbury
in 1341 for a license to hear Divine Service in his
oratory at his Manor of Littlecote, near Ramsbury;
he died two years later, leaving a son, John, then
twenty-one years old.

In John's lifetime Thomas de Lydeyerr became
chaplain of Littlecote in the place of John Golyas.
John Calston died in the thirty-first year of

LITTLECOTE

Tlie Colston
Family.

Edward the Third's reign, leaving a son, John, then
fifteen years old.

Early in the fifteenth century, by the marriage of
Elizabeth Calston (who was baptized in the second
year of Henry the Fourth's reign), grand-daughter of
this John Calston, and daughter and heiress of Thomas
Calston of Littlecote, with William Darrell (son of
Sir William Darrell of Sessay, in Yorkshire), Sub-
treasurer of England in 1399, Littlecote passed to the
Darrells.

" Littlecote," wrote Leland (about the year 1546),
librarian and " antiquary " to Henry VIII., " the
Darells' chief House is a Myle from Ramesbyri."
The house mentioned by Leland is the house which
still exists.

THE DARRELL FAMILY.

The Darrell rp^E DarcUs, Darrclls, or Dayrells (whose name is
Fatmiy. gp^j^ u D^j^eU " in the Battle Abbey RoU) — so called
from the castle of Airel in the arrondissement of St.
Lo, now known as Mesnilvite, built on low ground
by the river bank, where the bridge of St. Louis
crosses the Yire — came over at the Conquest, and
are first heard of in Yorkshire, where Marmaduc de

LITTLECOTE

Arel witnessed a charter of William, son of Alan
de Percy ; and Thomas de Arel occurs in 1158.

This Thomas, according to the Liber Niger, held of
Henry de Percy; and in the same record Ralph de
Arel is entered as a tenant of the Honom^ of Wal-
lingford. Either he, or another Ralph, held of Saier
de Wahull at Horton, in Northants, and half a
knight's fee in Oxfordshire, where Henry Dayrel
likewise held fee.

Sessay, their Yorkshire seat, is said to have been
acquired through the heiress of Richard de Percy of
Kildale, by William Dayrel, in the time of King John.
It was certainly in their possession as early as 1223-38,
when Sir Marmaduke Dayrel witnessed one of the
charters of Idonea de Busli, the widow of Robert de
Vipont, as her Seneschal. It was he who bestowed
the church of Sessay on York Minster.

Another Sir Marmaduke, living in 1364, married
Alice, daughter of Ralph, and sister of Geoffrey, Pigot,
and was succeeded in 1369 by his son. Sir William,
who became the father of three sons, Marmaduke,
William, and John.

Marmadtike carried on the line at Sessay, and the
Sir Edward Darell who, in 1433, was one of the com-
missioners appointed by Henry YI. to report upon
the Yorkshire gentry, was probably his son.

Leland says of them, " I learnid that Darelles of
Ceyssa by Newborow in Yorkshire were the oldest

LITTLECOTE

House, or one of the eldest of that Name that were
yn England. The Heu^es Males of this House fayllid
in King Henry the YII. tyme, and then one Guie
Dawney, of Yorkshire, maried the Heyre General, a
woman of a Manly Corage, and John, her Sun his
now the Heyre."

This heiress was Joan, sister of Sir Thomas
Darell ; she married Sir Guy Dawnay, of Cowick.

John founded the family of the Darrells, of
Calehill, in Kent, which was " of eminent reputation
among the gentry of the county," and lasted for
more than four hundred years.

He bought Cale Hill in 1410, and married two
Kentish heiresses : first, a daughter of Valentine
Barrett, of Perry Court; and, secondly, a niece of
Archbishop Chicheley, with whom he obtained
Scotney.

Of his son by his first wife, came the Darells of
Cale Hill, the last of whom died in 1846 ; of his son
by the second, came the Darells of Scotney, extinct in
the main line in 1720, when, by virtue of an old family
settlement, the estate reverted to Cale Hill.

One of the younger brothers was the ancestor of
a house still in existence, to which belonged Sir
Marmaduke Darell, of Fulmer Com*t, Bucks ; " servant
of Queen Elizabeth in her wars by sea and land, and
Cofferer to King James, and Ejng Charles I.," as
he is styled in his epitaph. Fulmer Chm'ch, rebuilt

LITTLECOTE

at his sole cost in 1610, retains his effigy in gilt
armour.

" He died in 1631," says Lysons, " and his grand-
children having squandered away their patrimony,
were obliged to sell the manor to their servants."

Seventh in descent from him was Sir Lionel
Darell, created a baronet in 1795, whose great-
grandson, also Sir Lionel Darell, lives at Fretherne
Cornet, Gloucestershire.

William married (probably in 1415) Elizabeth
Calston, the heiress of Littlecote. The issue of this
union was a son George, who, unlike his northern
cousins was a Yorkist, and was Keeper of the Great
Wardrobe to Edward lY. George was twice married.
By his first wife, Margaret Stourton, he became great-
grandfather of Jane Seymom^ (third wife of Henry
YIII.), and great-great-grandfather of Edward YI.
By his second wife, Jane Hautte (or, according to
some authorities, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Edmond
Hart, Kt., of Kent), he had an heir, Edward, who made
the fortune of the family at court.

In the year before his death. Sir George Darrell,
of Littlecote, had, according to the usual practice of
those unsettled times, devised his estates in trust to
several distinguished friends, including the Arch-
bishop of Canterbury, and the Abbot of Malmesbury.

Young Edward Darrell, of Littlecote, was eight
years old when his father died in 1474. It is difficult

6 LITTLECOTE

The Darreii discovei* any information worthy of notice respect-
Famiiy. .^^ ]nm during the next three reigns, but in the
third year of Henry YIII. his liabilities as Sheriff
for Wilts were remitted; and in the thirteenth year
of the same reign Orcheston and four other Wiltshire
manors were granted to Sir Edward Darrell by letters
patent, which were confirmed in the next year.

He was now one of the most considerable land-
owners in that county, and had added to his local infl.u-
ence by the marriage of his sister, Mary (or Margery),
to Thomas Long, of Draycott. Sir Thomas Long's
paternal grandmother was Alice, daughter and heiress
of Reginald Popham, of North Bradley, Wilts.

Sir Edward Darrell was Vice-Chamberlain to
Katherine of Aragon, and the following document
is not without its local interest.

" To o"" right trusty counsaillo'^ Sir Edward
Darrell K* om^e vicechamberlain arid keper of o''
pare of Chilton Folyat.

" Katherina the Qwene. By the Queue.

"We wol and coinaunde you to deliver or cause
to be delivered thre okes convenable for Tymber, To
be takyn of our gift wt. in om'e pare of Chilton Folyat
as well for the reparacon of the Chm'che of Chilton
Folyat whiche is in grete Rviyne and Decay, as for the
reparacion of om*e tukking mill there.

"And these om* letters, etc.

" At Grenewiche vj Jan. xvj Henry YIII."

LITTLECOTE

Another of this Queen's Privy Seals, dated 25 TheDarreii
July, 21 Henry YIII. is addressed to her Master
Foresters and Masters of the Game to permit Sir
Edward Darrell, her Vice-Chamberlain, to hunt and
kill one buck in summer, and another in winter, within
any of her chases or forests. In the same year a
warrant was issued for the delivery of ten oaks in
Chilton Park to Sir Edward Darrell.

The last of the Queen Katherine's grants to her
Vice-Chamberlain was in favour of his heirs. Therein
is recited that Sir Edward Darrell, lately deceased,
was the Queen's bailiff and receiver of her rents
and profits within the manor and park of Chilton
Folyat, and the keeper and farmer of her warrens
and pasturage within the parks of Blagdon in Dorset
and Fastorne in Wilts, and that he was indebted on
those accounts for the sum of 219?. ds. 6d. Kever-
theless, in consideration of his many and great ser-
vices, and at the prayer of Dame Alice, his widow
and executrix, the whole of that sum is remitted
and excused by Her Majesty. This claim was sworn
and allowed Michaelmas, 22 Henry VIII.

In Sir Edward Darrell's lifetime his eldest son
John (who married Jane, daughter of John Fetty-
place of Shefford) was slain at Arde in Picardy.
^ John Darrell's son, Sir Edward DarreU, married
a daughter of Sir Thomas Essex (or, according to
another account, of Sir William Essex — a fact which

LITTLECOTE

is the more probable, as the latter was alive under
Edward VI.), and was, by her, the father of the last
of the Darrells of Littlecote, William, or " Wild,"
Darrell.

One of the anecdotes of the Darrell family
that can be considered authentic is derived from
the minutes of a council at Hampton Court in 1541,
which had under consideration a complaint lodged
by the Bishop of Sarum that Edward Darrell, gent,
son-in-law of Sir William (or Sir Thomas) Essex,
had lately chased the Bishop's deer without license.
The council, however, thought it sufficient to entrust
the reproof due for this offence to the delinquent's
father-in-law.

It was in this year that Sir Edward Darrell
purchased the manor of Chilton Folyat, which had
been for so many years in the stewardship of his
grandfather.

In Domesday, Chilton had a reputed assessment
for ten hides ; and was valued at 101. instead of 121.
Littlecote, on the other hand, was assessed for little
more than one hide, and was valued at ten shillings
only.

Early in the fom'teenth centm'y — in the twenty-
ninth year of Edward the First's reign — Chilton
belonged to Hemy de Tyes, the Governor of Marl-
borough — styled in a letter to the Pope, " Lord ot
Chilton" — he died in 1308; Eleanor de Lisle in-

LITTLECOTE

herited from the Tyes ; and then came the Foliats, '^^ Darreii
one of whom, Su* Sampson Foliat (living in the time
of Henry III. and Edward I.), was a Crusader, and
his tomb is in the church of Chilton Foliat.

In the thirty-seventh year of Henry the Eighth's
reign the manor of Chilton Folyat, then the dowry
for life of another Queen Katherine, Katherine
Howard, was let to farm to Sir Edward Darrell —
the father of " Wild " Darrell — for a term of twenty
years, at an annual rent of 501. Ss. 7^d.

When, in the course of the next year, negotiations
took place for the sale of this manor to the then
occupier, an of&cial valuation was taken, which is
recorded in the Particulars for Grants of that year.

In the first membrane of this document a concise
description is given of the manor. In the second
membrane the timber on the estate is valued at 55Z.,
comprising forty oaks at two shillings each, and the
rest, oaks and ashes, at a shilling. The fourth
membrane contains a detailed description of the
manor and its appm^tenances, including the " Beere's
Inne " in the town of Hungerford, a " war en of
conyes " in Chilton, and all other possessions in the
" townes, parishes, and hamletts " of Chilton Folyat,
Leverton, and Hungerford, in the counties of Wilts
and Berks.

These were sold to Sir Edward Darrell for twenty-
two years' purchase of his rental, that is, for

LITTLECOTE

The Barren 1103/. Ids. M. To tMs suih was acMecl the value of
Farrniy. advowsoii and parsonage of Chilton Folyat, esti-

mated at 14:1. Ss. 8^d., making a total of 1118/. Ss. 5^d.

Sir Edward Darrell died at Littlecote on the
26th August, 1549. His personal estate was adminis-
tered dm^ing the next few months by Mary Fortescue,
who also accounted for his funeral and testamentary
expenses.

The household stuff at Littlecote was valued at
322/. 13s. 9^^. by an inventory exhibited in due form,
and this, with a fm'ther estimate of 30/. for out-
standing crops, made up a total of 352/. 13s. dd.

The " funeral and other necessary expenses,"
including legacies of sheep to various servants,
amounted to 326/. 16s. Sd., leaving but a balance of
25/. 176'. Id. of personal property.

In his will, dated shortly before his death, Sir
Edward Darrell had directed that dm'ing the next
eleven years his executors should receive and lay by
the profits of the manors of Chilton, Winterborne,
and Leverton, for the pm*pose of discharging his
debts and pursuing the livery of his heir.

By the same will he bequeathed to Mary Danyell
all his manors or lands of Rygge, Froxfield, Fyttleton,
Combe, Compton, Hackleston, Balston, Hanvyles,
Helmes, Longprydye, and Bagley, to her and her
assigns during her natm'al life.

To George Darrell, his " cosyn and servaunte,"

LITTLECOTE

the testator bequeathed an annnity of 20 marks. To
his "loving frend " John Knight one of 40m.; and
annuities of 40m. to Edward Johnson, John Curr, and
Thomas Carter — all of these annuities being payable
out of the manor of Winterborne. To his daughter,
Elynor, he assigned a portion of 200Z., and settled
on her the manor of Orcheston.

The Inquisition post-mortem taken at Sarum
before the Escheator of Wilts, 6 October, 4 Edward
YI., fm^ther recounts that " diu ante obitum suum
virtute cujusdam finis in Cm4a Domini Regis apud
Westmonasterium in crastino Sancte Trinitatis anno
2^° coram Edw. Mantague ^ sociis suis justiciariis,
etc, inter Thomam Philips ar. ^ J. Knight gen.
querentes ^ dictum Edw. Darrell mil. deforciantem
levatae, predictus Edwardus recognovit maneria de
Fiddleton, Combe, % Hackleston esse jus ipsius
Thome ut ilia que iidem Thomas ^ Johannes habue-
runt de dono predicti Edwardi in perpetuum. Et pro
hac recognitione iidem Thomas ^ Johannes concesse-
runt predicto Edwardo predicta maneria et reddide-
runt in cm'ia totam vitam ipsius Edwardi et post
discessum integre remanere Marie Danyell. Et post
discessum integre remanere rectis heredibus predicti
Edwardi."

The jm'ors upon this Inquisition also depose that
by a deed dated 37 Henry YIII., Sir Edward Darrell,
of his goodwill and favour towards Robert Moore of

12 LITTLECOTE

TheDarreii Bewyke-in-Holdemess and Elizabeth his wife, has
Famxiy, ^ssuTed to them an annuity of 6L 13s. 4td. The jui'ors
also declare that Sir Edward Darrell died at Little-
cote 26th August, 3 Edward YI., and they find that
William Darrell is his son and nearest heir, and that he
is of the age of ten years, two months, and three days.

There is one more official document to be noticed
in relation to Sir Edward Darrell's death. This is
the retm^n of Hem*y Clyfford, Escheator of Wilts,
that on taking the oath of Elizabeth Darrell widow
(as by wi"it directed) that she would not re-marry
without the consent of the king, he had assigned to
her the reasonable dower of 13 messuages and one
meadow, 3 cottages, 2 gardens, 510 acres of meadow,
203 acres of pasture, 50 acres of wood, and common
of pasture in Wanborough, Knighton, and Ramesbmy,
valued at 36Z. 106'. M. in all.

This arrangement was submitted to Sir J. Brydges,
Sir A. Hungerford, and J. Berwyk — the nearest
friends to William Darrell, the heir of Littlecote —
but they refused to become parties thereto.

Sir Edward Darrell left behind him at least two
children by his wife, Elizabeth Essex — William, and
Elynor. Besides these there was also undoubtedly
a third child, a son Thomas, though whether he
were born of the same marriage, or even in wed-
lock, there are probably no satisfactory means of
ascertaining.

LITTLECOTE

His wife, Elizabeth, survived Mm for many years ;
in fact, not long after his decease, she married again,
John Rogers, of Berks, son of Sir John Rogers, of
Dorset, an old connexion of the family.

Elynor Darrell was eventually married to Egre-
mond Radcliflfe.

" Wild " Daerell.

William, known in later years as "Wild," Darrell "wua"
was, at the time of his father's death, a child of nine
years old. Sir Edward Darrell had left behind him
real property of considerable value, and a personal
property which had been nearly absorbed in the
payment of his funeral and testamentary expenses;
but it would not appear that he intended his heir
to benefit greatly by either the one or the other.
Of the twenty-four manors of which, at the lowest
computation, he died possessed, sixteen, at least, were
subject to the life interest of other members of his
family by his own act ; while two or three more were
encumbered for long terms of years. Thu^ty years
later William Darrell was still paying to a woman,
for whom his father had thereby amply provided, a
heavy rent-charge upon the estates which were his
birthright. Thanks to Magna Charta, and to her
own official connections, Sir Edward's widow was

The Darrell
Family.

14 LITTLECOTE

secure of her reasonable dower. No sooner was Sir
Edward Darrell dead than difficulties began to sur-
round his heir. First the tenants of Chilton Foliat
demurred at paying their rents to a lord who had
but little power of compulsion at hand. This com'se
they pursued at the instigation of the Earl of Rutland,
who raised an ancient claim to the property in
question. He exerted his com't influence, and, taking
the law into his own hands, broke into Chilton Park
with a band of armed retainers, and encamped upon
the disputed territory. A collision ensued, and the
young heir prosecuted some of the parties at the next
quarter- sessions for trespass and assault. The Chilton
tenants, becoming bolder, pressed for their rents to
be returned to them. (See suit in the Com*t of Wards
of certain customary tenants of the manor of Chilton
Folyat to recover 51Z. paid to William Darrell, who
wi'ongfully claimed the same after he was disseised
of those lands by the Earl of Rutland. Circa 1563.)

Finally the case resolved itself into a lingering
suit in Chancery.

There seem to have been continual difficulties
with this property at Chilton Foliat, for in 1592 (three
years after William Darrell's death) Dame Ursula
Walsingham institvited a Chancery suit to be pro-
tected in possession of lands in Chilton Foliat,
Wilts., late the estate of William Darrell, Esquire,

LITTLECOTE

but parchased from him by her late husband, Sir
Francis Walsingham, who settled the same upon
herself.

Throughout the long period of William Darrell's
minority he was an exile from the home of his
ancestors. Here a spurious Lady Darrell reigned
supreme, for her rival had married a young husband,
and had gone to reside in another county. But, as
soon as the young heir of Littlecote attained his
majority, he instituted a suit to recover more than
his nominal ownership of the home manors, basing
his claim upon the following grounds : that the
demise made by his father for the lady's benefit only
extended over the period of his minority. Hereupon
the defendant sought to prove that by an early deed
these manors were demised to her for life ; and that
upon her subsequent marriage, after her benefactor's
decease, the guardian of his heir attempted to dis-
possess her, but, after long strife, failing to do so,
gave way " to ease his conscience," and admitted the
justice of her cause. The reply on the part of
William Darrell was clear and decisive as regards
the home manors, the real point at issue. He pro-
duced a deed, dated three years later than that under
which the defendant claimed, whereby the property
in dispute was conveyed to his guardian in trust
for the lady during the heir's minority only. Hence-

16 LITTLECOTE

forth William Darrell was in possession at Littlecote
till the day of his death.

The tenants of another manor defied their lord,
and dragged him into com't to defend his conduct.
These were the copyholders of Wanborough, who com-
menced a suit in the feudal Com't of Requests for
protection against their lord's malice. Here charges
and counter-charges of an extraordinary natm'e were
brought forward. Darrell, it seems, had ejected
certain of his tenants, and put new ones into their
places. These he supported against the rebellious
majority, and the two parties soon came to extremi-
ties. Several of the old tenants were summoned by
the new tenants on a charge of felony. They were
brought before a neighbom'ing justice, committed
for trial, and found guilty ; but they found means
(as Darrell complained) of obtaining the Queen's
pardon.

To the action of the Wanborough copyholders,
Darrell replied with a cross-suit in Chancery to compel
evidence for a trial at the common law. Meanwhile
the case of the former, after hanging fire for a long
time at the Coui't of Whitehall (Requests), came on
for hearing, when an injunction was issued to secure
the plaintiffs in their holdings until further hearing
in Chancery. This decision was highly displeasing
to Darrell's side. One of his people refused at first

LITTLECOTE

to recognise the writ, observing incredulously "that
it was a counterfayte and made under a busshe " — to
the " evil example," as it was reported, of " many
others." Foiled in one direction, Darrell fell back
on his Chancery suit. The case had been directed
to stand over till Michaelmas term; but on the 28th
of October, the defendants were suddenly served
with a notice to appear and make answer afresh on
the 29th. The summons was dated the 26th, though
neither motion nor order had been made. The
opponents had stolen a march.

Worse than this was Darrell's position with regard
to his Berkshire tenants at TJffington. The chief of
these was a nephew, who — upon the occasion of some
quarrel, the merits of which are uncertain, though the
law afterwards decided in the uncle's favom^ — armed
a band of rioters, and made a forcible entry into the
lands in dispute. The shepherds whom they found in
the fields, after a few blows, fled before them, so, leav-
ing some of their number to guard the captured sheep,
they marched on to the mansion. The garrison con-
sisted only of two of Darrell's dairywomen; but the
invaders, fearing the possibility of an ambuscade, or
more probably an action for burglary, did not at once
commence an assault, but established a blockade, and
"laye in contynuall awayte" about the house for four
or five days. During this time they placed sentinels

18 LITTLE COTE

on the terrace, and patrolled the grounds, recemng
support from their allies in the neighbourhood. At
last the house was stormed, and occupied by the enemy
in force. Meantime the detachment mounting guard
over the flocks was reconnoitred by the shepherds
anxious for their charge, as it was just then lambing
time. The rioters, however, seized the shepherds, and
hoisting their heels aloft, "drew them violently a greate
distance, their hedes knocking agaifist the ground,''
and cast them headlong forth.

Last of all was the case of the manor of Axford,
one of the most weighty cases of those times. This
estate had been conveyed by Sir Edward Darrell to
his father-in-law. Sir William Essex, and had been
devised by the latter to his eldest son with option
of purchase to Sir Edward Darrell and his heirs at
a stated price. The sum in question was tendered
by Sir Edward to the younger Essex, but was refused
by the latter, and the matter was allowed to drop.
But William Darrell was not a man to treat the
subject so lightly. He considered himself the life
tenant by succession to an inalienable birthright, and
without otherwise molesting the Essexes' tenant,
began to fell timber on the manor. A lawsuit at
once followed, throughout which Darrell continued
to fell timber as before, in spite of his counsel's
remonstrances.

LITTLECOTE

The Essexes supported their tenant, and the case "
was protracted for some twenty years ; during which
time personal feeling became more and more em-
bittered. Here are three letters that passed between
"Wild" Darrell and his counsel (Sir John Popham,
the Attorney- General, and the subsequent owner of
Littlecote), referring to this felling of trees at Axford,
and one from Sir John Danvers to Darrell on the
same subject.

Sir John Popham to William Darrell.

"After my heartie commendacions unto you.
Wheras the matter betweene Mr. Stukeley ^ you
is by the consent of you bothe referred to Order, I
pray you to forbeare to cutt downe any more woode
or trees in A:s:ford during suche tyme as the matter
dependeth in comprymys. I was moved herein by
Mr. Stewkeley after your departure from me and as
the case standeth, I thinke hit verie resonable you
yeld unto yt. I mene if God please to be at Salis-
burie the wekes dale at night before Easterdaie ;
where for divers respectes I would gladlie speke w*^

20 LITTLECOTE /

you. And thus I bidd you farewell. From Cloford,
this iij'^^ daie of Marche 1582.

"Yo- assured good frend

"Jo. POPHAM.

"To the wo^^

My very lovyng frend

My Wylliam Darrell Esqyer

Geve these at Lytlecott."

Sir Jora Dawers to William Daerell.

"I founde Mr. Attorney after his departure from
Sarum at Wylton; where yt pleasid my L. of Pem-
broke to have some communicacion towchinge you,
chardging you with very unthanckfull dealing
towardes him. His L. was answerid by us boathe
in the best manner we coulde, for yom' creadytte;
upon the which Mr. Attorney commoning with me
privatlie, willed me to advise you from him (as yom*
frynde) to remaine of a former good mynde towardes
my L : and so not to deale with any other touching
Axford untill he may agein speake with you. And
so would I wysshe you for divers cawses which you
shall knowe at my nexte speaking w^*" you. And for
my bargaine from Whytewaye, I see the lykelyhed

" Wild"
Darrell.

LITTLECOTE

SO ill for me to make a savinge bargaine, as I will
not troble you any further in ytt. And so with my
verie hartie commendacions, I bidd you farewell.
From Dauntesey the y^^ of Marche 1582.

"Yol: loving frend ^ kynnesman,

"Jo: DA]srvERS.

"To the worshipfull his lovinge
kynnesmann Mr. William Darrell
Esquier — Deliver theis."

William Darrell to Sir Joecn^ Popham.

" I receved yo!^ letters dated at Cloforde the iij*^ of
Marche by the handes of a Shepherde cominge from
the downes by some distaunce from me the vj*? day
after, but how they came to him nether of himself nor
otherwise unto this daye could I well learn, but that
of a man unknown they wer receved. Yo!" letters in
matter rested on too poyntes. The one that sithence
the cause betwyne Study and me is reffered to speach
yo'^ do pray me to forbeare cuttinge downe woudes ^
trees in Axforde, and was moued therin by Stucley,
and do thinck it very resonable I should yelde unto
it. Wherat I have and do marvell me much, and
am in the same sorely perplexed, sithence I was not

Wild"
Darrell.

22 LITTLECOTE

easily drawen to have speacli in it, no not altlioiighe
I love yo":" and doo reste upon yo" before any other.
For I was not then ignoraiint who would stirr, and
what would be enterponed. And therefore I receved
yo'; promise not only in this matter, but also in a
thing of a seconde degree ; the which I knowe is well
w*.^ yo'^ in good remembraunce, nether was I con-
tented to have it talked of, in that of my libertie I
would be abridged nor through forbearinge to have
my cause slaundered or by such a sm'ceasinge to give
occation of doubtful speach to common people wherby
oppinion of the same may be lost. The which is the
only thing that in few yeares sute as it I have gayned.
Mr. Atturney yol" could not thinck this convenyent.
But talkinge of late w*^ S!^ John Danvers, o' my God ;
he telling me somewhat, 1 knew therby much, wherof
I will expresse nothinge in letters. But what be men,
and what minds be in them in thes dayes. Wher is
become the integrete, clearnes of consciens and vertu
that somtyme have bin. 1 have learned one rule in
books from the auncyent fathers, and have found it
in experience among'st men; that that day that a
man would have another's landes or his goodes, that
day he would have his life also if he could. I pray
yo'^ pray for me, for I am at this present in sory case.
The rest of yo^^ letters was that I should meat yo";" the
Wensday at night before Easter at Sarmu : the w""" 1

LITTLECOTE

woulde willinsfly doo but the yll affection of my health "

^ Darrell.

at this present doth inforce me to pray yo'^ to hold me
excused. And at London shortely or when yo";" will
yo"? shall have [me] to attende yo'^, and, with reason,
to leade me ^ cary whether yo"^ will. I found by Sir
John Dan vers that I was beholding to you also of
late. Amyddest the wilfullnes of other men's speaches
I have bynn alwayes beholding to yo". I am indebted
to yo^, and as I do acknowledge it so am ready to
satisffie for it. And as I have receaved the one, so
am ready to acquitt my selfe in the other. And so
w*.'' my harty comendations I bidd yo^ fare-well. At
my pour hous at lytellcot the 27*^ of marche 1583.

"Yo"; losing and assured frind

"W. Daeell.

"To the right worshipful
my loving frind M"" Popham,
Attm'ney General geve thes."

Sir John Popham to William Darrell.

"Mr. Darrell, wheras you wryte to me that (as I
tak hyt) you marveled I shold be off opinion hyt
were convenyent you shold forbeare the fellyng of
woodes dependyng the comprymyse; trewly I was

24 LITTLECOTE

and am of that opynyon and so wold you be also yf
the case were tried that the possessyon were off the
othersyd. And the rather I am so induced, for that
yf hys counsell hadd well loked unto hyt, I thynke
they myght have restreyned you therof by the lawe.
And wheras I gather by yo^ letter yo" wryte that
you dydd not thus conceave of me, when you co-
mytted hit unto me. I assm'e you that neyther yo": sellf
nor any man else shall justly charg me w^^ any abuse
off any thyng comytted to me. And yet in thys
and in all other [I] may and wyll move that w'^?' shalbe
[hereto] convenyent and resonable. And touchyng
yo^ beyng here, hyt was but to have conferred w*? you
in a poynt that concernyd the whole success of yo'
cause to have been armed for hyt w".'' beyng sent by
me (I protest before God) for yo'^ most good, I cannot
gather by the doubtfulnes of yo' letter what plesyr
you had conceaved off hyt. I never yet deserted any
and I wyl not now begyn w^?" you. I thinke you
have hadd better proff [of] me. And so w^'^ my herty
comendacyons do comytt you to God. At Sarum,
the xxviij*^ of marche 1583.

" Y"."^ loving frend

"Jo. POPHAM.

" To the w^."^ Mr. Wyll'^ DarreU Esq"^?
" geve these."

LITTLECOTE

William Darrell's rent-roll was, no doubt, at one
time considerable. His father died possessed of
some twenty-four manors, the gross rental of which
could not have been much less than 2000Z. by the
year. Alienations, law-suits, and a higher rate of
living must have reduced William Darrell's average
income to about half that amount. At the time of
his greatest embarrassments, it was actually between
700Z. and 800?., about half of which was derived
from the rents of some half dozen manors, and the
rest was made up of arrears, dues, and the proceeds of
the farms at Littlecote and Axford. He was, how-
ever, perpetually in difficulties. He owed money to
usurers, tradesmen, and many of his neighbours.
He anticipated his rents, and pawned much of his
plate. These transactions brought him into collision
with creditors whose importunities he was not inclined
to brook; and so one more element of discord was
added to his difficulties. There can be no doubt that
this continual drain was chiefly owing to law-costs.
Indeed, no other explanation presents itself. His
household consisted of retainers who had grown old
in the service of the family, and the cost of their
maintenance did not exceed 501. 3b year.

"Wild" Darrell's famous amour was the tm^ning
point of his life, and his enemies' opportunity.
Sir Walter Hungerford abandoned his wife, and

LITTLECOTE

put the law into motion, but he lost his divorce
suit (1568-70). One of Sir Walter's half-brothers
took up his quarrel, drew on Darrell, and would have
killed him ; but the encounter ended without serious
result. The following letters, bearing on the case,
are full of human interest.

Lady Hotgerfoed to Willia^i Darrell.

" I have sente to you my dear Will a messenger
off great truste by whom you shall se the coppe of the
essaminyng off thowes Varletes, as you may well
perseve by ther tales the have bene well tawte ther
lessones. But I dout not but that God will defende
me from all the vill & abomynabell practiscis, and
shamefoll rewarde shall the have for ther great paines
and specially thowes at whos handes I have not
desarved it, but sithe it is my fortune to be thus
plaged for yom' sake, I muste & will be contented w^ all,
praing you to ploke up yower wittes and memory to
defende this my unfortunate cawes & youres; for
my parte I am both ignoraund & witles to dele
in those matres, yet have I good Will to doo therein
to the uttermost, whiche mythinkes I kolde muche
better do iff I myght talke wythe you whiche cannot

LITTLECOTE

be till ye tearme, be no meanes, & that is to me no
small greff; at whiclie time you shall know how &
wher to talke w? me. In the mene season it shalbe
requysite for you & me bothe to sherche and seeke
oute what possabell may be to deface and disprove
thos varlettes that soo vily hathe yoused us. Talke
you I pray you effecteously w* this barer who hathe
noted certaine thinges to be considered off; &
especially for the times, and what witnesses be beste
to be had or sought fore. It trubles me muche &
feares me more, & nobody have I to take and say my
minde unto, but only you who I cannot have. God
send me reste & quietnes in heven, for hear I have
none in this worlde. I have muche more to wryte
then ether helthe will soffer me or you to rede w* oute
being wery, wher fore I leve off this matter till we
mete, trusting my tounge and wittes will better com
to me and sarve me then at our Last meting the did,
for the site off you then was suche to me as I kolde
not otere that whiche faine I wolde have sayde. Now
as touching your lettres whiche you sent me by your
man whom at that time founde me in suche sounding
fitts and wekenys as yet I ame not any longe time
voyde thereoff, so that I kolde not then write as I
wolde, nor at this present cane soo well as I kolde
wische; and for you writing to my frendis, I holde
well w* all soo it be done advisedly & but to my father

LITTLECOTE

only as I have geven this barer instructions. My
Lorde off Lester, writ a very friendly letter to my
father in my behalfe, declaring I shaU not lacke all the
frendship he may do for me. And wher you put me
in remembarance to yowes you well and all soo
charging me w? my othe, to the fui'ste I say I have
not at any time missused you, nor never will to the
deathe, and then I truste no othe is or cane be brokin.
But how you have and will yowes me it hathe & dothe
reste only in you, I charge you not. and when you
will me to commande you and all you have, full well
you knowe my dear dorrell I never wayed your goodes
or Landes but only you and yom* faithefull good Will,
as God be my J udge & your selfe, iff ether I myght
or kolde by any possobell meanes have incressede
yom' worshep, or welthe, ther never wanted good Will
in me at any time ; but how long or littell a time
soo ever I live, I loke not to be voyed off greves off
olde time growen ; & in what case I am or shall be
in I knowe not. Then waye you who hathe moste
cause not only to saye consider — but alsoo to consider.
To yom' fmTst letter I answer laste, thinking not you
have loste any frendes but rather plesereth you in
that the have shewed ther dissembling frendshep,
but I dot not, as I have afore saide butt that God will
provide for us meny frends. Luker & gaine makes
meny dissembling and hollow hartes, and whar as

LITTLECOTE

you say you will kepe ye burde in your breste saiffe
and othe that you have sworne never to revelle nor "
breake, one thinge assur yourselfe off, cawes justly
you shall have none to breke & in tim I shall well
find & parseve your farste menyng and constancey.
This my dear Will I leve forder to wryte, to you till
we may mete, whiche I truste shall be shortely;
praing Allmyte Gode to presarve and kepe the bothe
body and sole.

"During liffe ever one

"A. Htogerforde."

" The barrer hear off semes to be very carfull of my
bisnis and painfull I have founde him, and a good
sotell hede anoweff to dele in mattres. Ones again
a 1000 times fare well ti[ll] mor at large, may I talke
w* Him. " A. H.

" To the right worshepfull

my cossane Master Darrell

Geve these at [Littlecote]

Lady Htwgeiiford to William Darrell.

" My good dorrell I hear y' you mett w* Lewes Ty

at Colbrok, and ther stayed him in soo muche that

Edward Hungerford was faine to make great sute

LITTLECOTE

to my Lord off Londane to have him discharged
wher he standethe bounde for his apparence at the
next Court day and allso that he shall appere at all
times afterwardes, from time to time. He alsoo made
great complante that ether you did or elles you wolde
have sene the Letteres that he brought from Sir
Walter, as yff you have not I wolde to God you hade
s. and y. touchin the other s. Letter d. you wot off,
I wolde faine it were mendid for myne Aunte hathe
& dothe show it to diveres as to my Lorde of Lester,
my Lady Sidney, and otheres and makethe suche
bragges off it as you never saw, all soo bedle the
regester tolde me that he harde Lowes Die shuld be
offred a living worth xx markes by the year, to forsake
his master but how or be home I know not For the
Love off God my good Will be carfull for me this
matter and thinke how muche it standethe me uppone,
and in any wyse seke I pray you to bringe in as meny
witnyssis for the profe off yom' being at Londane all
the Ester terme as by any possebell menes you cane
get/ Godsoll was very straytly exsamenned apon ye
intergatoryes there was xl of them layed in againste
him and amoungaste whiche ther was one to knowe
whether you came to my loging during the time you
wer at London, and whether we dede mete or see
one annother or not. As for any sartain nues, we
have none as it [yet], but dayly the poste ar loked

LITTLECOTE

for. Young Roper is comyted to prysin w* divres
other from the Star chamber for religione matter,
but it is thought greter parsones shall follough. And
this wisshing you as well as your one [own] harte can
desire, to ye Almytey I leve you. From London.
The XX off Feberyary.

" Ever one during life,

"A. Htogerfoede.

" In any case
lowes not ye s. letter, d.
Small thinges can doo no harem.
& y frendship x. we shall not lake.
" To my very frend

Master Dorrell geve [thes] — "

Lady Hungeeford to William Darrell.

"My dear Dorrell W* my faythefull comenda-
cyones this barer makethe suche haste that I have
no time to write as I wolde, but for ye passiane off
Gode thinke what you have to doo & let me not be
undone, for this barer telleth me that my counsell
is marvellouesly astoned for y* the cannot goo for-
warde acording to ther furste instructiones so y* now
y? know not what to saye or what to lay in for answer.

have sent to me to knowe what I kolde say con-

32 LITTLECOTE

sarnying your being to me at Ester terem was iij year,
wMche to geve my remembrance you were not at
that tim ther but off sartaine I cannot tell I rather
thinke you wer ther at trynytie terme, but full well
I doo & ever shall remember you wer ther at Ester.
Thus putting my only tuste in you I comyt you to ye
aUmyte who send you as well in thinge as your seKe
wolde wishe. " In haste at midnyte.

"A. H.
" rede & bren.
" To yf Right Worshepfull Master Dorrell.

g[eve] theis."

Lady Hungerfoed to William Daerbll.

" Myster Dorrell,

" I by the othe that I have sworne upone
the holy Angleste do acknowledge that if Sir Water
Hungerfer my husband now liveng do departe oute
of thys lyfe,* that I here by the othe that I have
swarne, and wytnes of thys my hande that I wyll take
you to my husbande. Wytnes therof thys my hand
sufdesyth. "A™a Hotgerford.

[Endorsed by William Darrell.]
" To his weU beloved wife, the lady Hungerford, at
the Castell of Frogges be thys delivered."

* Originally written — " if Sir Watre Hungerfer my husband were not levyng."

LITTLECOTE

Sir Frances Ei^glefield to Dorothy Essex. "Wiid'

Darrell.

"You have hearde (I doubte not) how my La.
Hungerfardes greate sewte ys at lengthe endyd by
sentens to her suffycyent purgation and honor,
thoughe neyther suffycyent for her recompens nor
for hys punysshement. . . . Her letters to me
were bothe of one effecte, to say, to procure what I
may that by her fryndes som ordre may be taken
to bryng her out of debte, and to fm'nyshe her to
lyve in suche an estate as they her fryndes thynke
mete that she doo susteyne. I am not ignoraunt that
the charges wilbe greater than any one of them (that
may) will willingly beare and I know that some of
them that may best, will doe least. Yet see I none
other way untyll God send that the justyce of her
cause may be better hearde, and that greate beaste
my cosen compellyd bothe to recompens the injuryes
doone her, and to furnyse her wythe yerely lyvyng
accordyng to the portion that she brought hym.

" LouYAiNE, April 19th, 1570."

Lady Akna Htjngerford to Dorothy Essex.

"My dear Essex, I have reseved diveres lettres
from you and allso from her grasse. ... I have
byn in that necessete y' I have solde all my wering

34 LITTLECOTE

clothes and my tabell clothe and suche linens as you
knowe I hade — and all to helpe me to maintane my
sute in lawe in clering me of myn innoseence. And
now I have sentence of my side, but Master Hunger-
forde will not pay my charges nor yet geve me living
whiche ye lawe geves me, but the rather will li in
the flete, rather then to parte w any peny of living
w^ me. O my deare Doll what endelles messeres
do I live in! O what frendes had I that this most
wrechedly hathe utterly caste me and all mine away.
I am not abell to wi'ite ye one quarter of my trobeles
whiche I have indured. Sur Water Hungerfo, and
his brother hathe touched me in iij thinges, but I
wolde in no case have ye douches to knowe them for
geving hm^ grefe. The furst was, sence you wente,
advortery. Ye seckond w!" morder. Ye iij that I
wolde a' poyssoned him vj yeares agone ; but all
thes has fallen out to his shame ; but I shall never
recover it whilest I live, the greves hathe bin and is
suche to me, and mine necessetys so, that I fear I
shall never be as I have byn. ... I have nobody
to travell for me for Gardener is gone from my father,
and I have not to geve him anything to sarve me
so y^ I knowe not what to doo ; and my horesses ar
bothe dede so y^ I have nothinge to helpe myselfe
w^ all. ... I am forssed to put all my fokes away
at medsomer for I have not to kepe them and

LITTLECOTE

nothing trebles me so muche as that I have not to "
do for GodsoU for he has loste muche by his sarving ""^^ '
of me. My cheldrene I have not harde of this xj
mountes and more. Yf ar loste for wante of good
plassing; Susane is as I hear clen spoilled, she has
forgotten to rede and hnr complexsione clen gone
w* an yeche, and she hathe skante to shefte her w* all.
Jane is w* a semster in Malboro very evel to [do].
Surly I wer happy if God wolde take them out of
this life.

" The Savoy, March 25th, 1570."

Darrell's enemies bestirred themselves. They
appeared in the Justice-room at Kewbury, where
one of the cases in which Darrell was involved
(Darrell against Hide) was being heard before Com-
missioners (Sir Henry Knyvett, Mr. Anthony Bridges,
and Mr. Roger Younge), and accused one of the
Littlecote servants of "the mm'theringe of one
Blontte." Soon afterwards Darrell himself was
charged with being an accomplice. This was in 1578,
and the charge was " towching a murther that sholde
be doon about three years past." Finally bail was
taken for Darrell to meet the charge.

This was, indeed, a crisis in Darrell's fortunes.

LITTLECOTE

He was overwhelmed with debt; he was formally
accused of one mm^der, and suspected of another ;
he had to bear the odium of debauchery and fraud ;
he was at law with nearly all his tenants, and in a
state of open warfare with most of his neighbom's ;
and now he was thrown into prison, and, in order to
obtain his release, compelled to pay a very large sum
of money to the Lord-Lieutenant of his own county,
Lord Pembroke.

It is in 1579 that we find " Wild " Darrell caged in
the Fleet Prison, and his imprisonment happened in
this wise. In 1577, DarreU being in his normal state
of antagonism with most of his neighbom^s great
and small, an armed party of the latter had proceeded
to the house of one Thomas Brinde, an agent of
Darrell's, and mm'dered him in cold blood as he
sat before his door. The murderers were harboured
and protected by Darrell's enemies, foremost of whom
was Sir Henry Knyvett, sheriff of Wilts. The widow
of the mm'dered man was compensated, and the
circumstances were hushed up. Darrell, however,
was not a man to put up with an affront. The crime
had been committed within his own feudal lordship,
and the mm'dered man had been his agent, his friend
as he now impulsively called him, whose blood cried
cried for vengeance. He posted up to town, and
interviewed Mr. Solicitor, the Lord Chief Justice,

LITTLECOTE

and other influential people, who do not seem to have
been able — or willing — to prevent him from taking
the initiative for the vindication of the law. This
Darrell attempted, and an abortive prosecution was
the result. After a year's delay, and seeing that no
justice was to be got in the shire, he next sought out
the brother of the murdered man, and assisted him
to lay a petition before the Crown itself, openly
charging Sir Henry Knyvett with shielding the guilty
parties from justice. This brought matters to a crisis ;
and Darrell's enemies now put out their whole
strength against him. First Knyvett brought an
action against him for promoting the petition of his
late accuser, laying the damages at 5000L, and others
followed his example. At the same time Lord Hert-
ford, and Knyvett were collecting evidence to support
another charge, that of a child murder described in
the " Littlecote Legend."

As, however, neither of these schemes promised a
speedy issue, they determined to denounce Darrell
as a disaffected person. Two of the Littlecote
servants were induced to accuse him of a certain
slander uttered in their hearing, " and particularly
touching the Lords of the Privy Council, and after
that the ladies of the Courte, and laste the Judges
of the londe."

Among a mass of papers, deeds, drafts, interroga-
tories, and the like, relating to the history of " Wild "

38 LITTLECOTE
"Wild" Darrell, have been found the following satirical

Darrell. , ,

lines : —

" The Courtyars craved all
The Queene graunted all
The Parliament passed all
The Keeper sealed all

" The Ladies ruled all
Mouns?" Buyroome spoyled all
The crafty intelligencer hard all
The Busshoppes smothed all

" He that was apposed [set] himselfe agaynst all
The Judges pardoned all

Therefore unless yo": Majestie spedely amend all
W^out the great mercy of God the devill will
have all."

Note. — Professor Hales, to whom Mr. H. Hall
referred these lines, suggested that Mounsiem* Buy-
roome should be Marshall Biron.

Here, as Mr. Hubert Hall — the finder of these
papers — says, writing in the Athenmim in 1887, here
we have the identification of this libel with the one
attributed to Darrell, the existing MS. being, no
doubt, in the form of a deposition taken during
subsequent proceedings. These resulted in Darrell's
arrest, examination, and imprisonment in the Fleet,

LITTLECOTE

where he remained for several months in 1579, under
the high displeasure of Her Majesty.

There exist thirty or forty of Darrell's letters
written dming his imprisonment, addressed to various
people at Court.

To the Lord Chancellor, — 31 January: Com-
plaining that his lordship moved him to prosecute
Brinde's murderers, whence his present persecution
by Sir Henry Knyvett.

To Sir James Croft. — 6 February : Protesting
his innocence of the alleged slander against the
Court and Council.

To Mr. Secretary Walsingham. — 6 February:
Describing the false accusations of his enemies,
which have involved him in the displeasure of the
Queen.

To Sir Christopher Hatton. — 7 February: Ec-
lating the malicious charges and persecution of his
enemies ; and again, 20 February, demanding justice,
especially for the recovery of the Queen's favour, and
his temporary release to conduct his private affairs.

To the Earl of Leicester. — 7 February : Telling
the story of his prosecution of Brinde's murderers,
whereby he has incurred actions for £10,000 damages ;
and of the perjury and subornation employed against
him, and the false accusation before the Queen of
seditious libel.

To Lord Chief Justice Dyer. — 12 February:

40 LITTLECOTE

Repeats his version of Brinde's case, and his own
imprisonment. Sir Henry Knyvett is sherilff of Wilts,
and the coroners etc. are his partisans, therefore prays
change of the venue "before you," with a special jmy,
as in Stuckeley's case. " There is I trust one thinge
for all men. God is above; indifferent, all mens
God."

To Sir James Croft again. — 20 February: His
houses are entered, and his property taken by force.
His people molested, and one of them lately kid-
napped, and he is harassed with trumped-up actions,
which he is unable to defend, being in prison. "I
beseech you even for the justice of the lordes sake "
that these practices may be stopped, and a fair trial
awarded ; and again, 27 February, his cousin Brydges
goes to Cornet by whom he shall have Lord Hertford's
dealings, which shall be fully repaid. Protests his
innocence of these charges.

To the Earl of Leicester again. — 11 March : Deny-
ing the slanderous reports of his enemies. His grief
at Her Highness's displeasm'e. Prays for his assistance
against the malice of his enemies to spoil his property.
And again, 22 April, thanks for his gracious interces-
sion. Understands thereby that Her Majesty is now
well disposed towards him, and therefore anticipates
his liberty. And again, 26 April, enclosing a suppli-
cation to the Queen. And again, 15 May, would
like to have his liberty."

LITTLECOTE

To Sir Francis Walsingham agavn. — 18 March ;
Thanks for his infinite goodness, for which he will
bear a life-long gratitude. Prays for his mediation
with the Queen, and his release from prison, wherein
his debts are great, and his credit gone. Again,
22 April, acknowledges past obligations and further
ones of which Mr. Comptroller has spoken to him.
" God requite you, and I will do my best." Prays his
further help to obtain his release in order to pursue
his suits which are pending.

To Sir Thomas Bromley. — 21 April: Has remained
prisoner here since the 6th of February, ignorant
of his offence, but not of the malice of his enemies.
Is surprised at this treatment, as he was often
sent for to Greenwich and pressed to prosecute
Brinde's mm^derers, then suing for pardon. Was he
not also promised immunity from the malice of those
" mallaparte people," and in the end was persuaded
to prosecute to his present cost, being slandered and
cast into prison? Marvels at this, especially con-
sidering my Lord Pemhrohe^s concern in this matter.
Nevertheless, he is possessed of patience and a
constant mind. Yet it should he considered this
punishment is not for his own cause, but another^s ;
however, if he is now released, he will be quits with
those who should have assisted him, and moreover
grateful.

To the Earl of Pembroke. — 19 May : Is sorry

LITTLECOTE

to hear from Sir Edward Herbert that his letters
gave offence. Marvels hereat, considering his lord-
ship^s interest in his case. Defends his zeal in
prosecuting Brinde's murderers. Would be glad
to hear privately from him as to the purchase of
interest at Axford. Has already spent 1700Z. in
his suit. Prays him to assist in obtaining his release,
whereby his gratitude will be assured.

Mr. HaU suggests that Darrell may have heard
the rhymed libel on the Cornet (referred to above)
recited by some wit — possibly at the Pembroke's at
Ramsbmy — and having indiscreetly repeated it at
his own table, was betrayed by his own servants.
A similar episode is related in the State Papers of
the period, in which a libel was uttered against
Walsingham at a Wiltshire dinner-table, and repeated
by a spy, to the confusion of the company.

This supposition (adds Mr. Hall) is not whoUy
fanciful, for Darrell always declared that he had
suffered for another's fault, to screen a greater than
himself, and that one he tells us was Pembroke.

It has been stated (with reference to Darrell's
lawsuits and quarrels with his tenants) by the same
authority that " all the above - mentioned contests
were the result of a combination of Darrell's
tenantry instigated by his personal enemies."

It takes, however, at least two to make a quarrel,
and it would be not unnatm'al to wonder whether

LITTLECOTE

" Wild " Darrell were not a somewhat difficult
neighbour, if indeed he were not given to what
Aristophanes would have called " early-rising, base-
informing, sad-litigious, plaguy ways."

No doubt the circumstances of his early life were
full of difficulties ; to evade, or to overcome, which
would have required a calm head and ripe experience
(neither of which advantages " Wild " Darrell seems
to have possessed); and while it would be difficult
for the ordinary observer to believe that a man
(whose whole life was spent in litigation and quarrels,
and who appears to have had but few friends, save
those whom he bought) could have been entirely the
victim of circimistances, or qualified to appeal success-
fully from the verdict of his contemporaries to that of
posterity three centuries after his death — there is
a latent chord in human nature which vibrates, with
pity and regret, to the story of a proud character dis-
torted by ceaseless quarrels with neighbours, with
tenants, and with kin.

The Littlecote Legend.

Among Darrell's correspondence from the Meet
prison in 1579 is a memorandum by Anthonye Bridges,
enclosing a copy of a deposition made before him,
referring to the story of a child-murder, about which.

44 LITTLECOTE /

in 1578 and 1579, Lord Hertford and Sir Henry
Knyyett, both neighbours of Darrell, were seeking
for evidence.

The story, related by Aubrey in the seventeenth
century, is well known from its repetition by Sir
Walter Scott in a note to BoJcehy, where the tradi-
tion is expanded.

The story is to the following effect.

A midwife was fetched out of Berkshire, at dead
of night, to come to the assistance of a person of
rank, with a promise of high pay, but on condition
that she should be blindfolded. After a rough ride
on horseback behind the messenger, she arrived at
a house, and was conducted upstairs, where she
performed her duties to the lady ; but no sooner
were these ended than a man of ferocious aspect,
seizing the new-born boy, threw it on the back of
the Ore that was blazing on the hearth, and destroyed
it. The midwife returned to her home, and long
brooded in secret over her singular adventure ; but
the crime to which she had been privy at length pro-
duced its fruit, and her mind became ill at ease ; so,
disregarding the bribe, she went to a magistrate, and
confessed to him all that she knew. She believed
that she could identify the house, for, on ascending
the stairs, she had counted the number of steps,
and from the bedside she had brought away a piece
of the bed- curtain.

LITTLECOTE

Here is the memorandum of Anthonye Bridges,
enclosing the deposition of Mother Barnes.

"Upon the troble and ymprisonment of William
Darrell, the Erie of Hertforde did send for me
Anthonye Bridges and often tymes I came to him,
his speche beinge altogedther of Wm. Darrell esquier,
and what I coulde saie to be a meane to accuse
the said William. And at the last he prayed me to
tell what Mother Barnes a mydewief dwellinge in
ShifPorde had heretofore said to him touching the
delivery of a childe. And I declared him the speche
as I nowe remembre."

[Deposition of Mother Babnes the Midwife.]

" Thes are to testefye my knowlege touchinge cer-
teyne speche w".^ Mother Barnes of Shefforde uttered
not longe before her deathe in the presence of me and
others videlt. That there came unto her house at
Shefforde, two men in maner leeke servinge men
in blacke fryse cotes, rydinge upon very good geld-
inges or horses w".^ declared unto her that theyre
mystres (as they then called her) nameing M""'- Knevett,
w''^ is nowe the wyfe of Henry Knevett, Knighte of
Wiltesh. had sente by them comendacions unto her
prayenge her of all loves to come unto her forthw^
accordinge to her promise ; shee beinge as they said,

LITTLECOTE

at that tyme neare her tyme of traveyle of childe
whoe presently prepared her selfe redy to ryde, and
beinge somwhat late in the eveninge, shee departed
from her said house in the company of the two before
recited persons, whoe rode w*? her the moste parte of
alle that nighte. And towardes daye, they broughte
her unto a fayre house and alighted her neere a doore
of the said house at the w''^ doore one of those that
broughte her made some little noyse, eyther by
knockinge or rynginge of some belle, wheruppon
there came to the said doore a tall slender gentleman,
having uppon h3rQi a longe goune of blacke velvett,
and bringinge a ilighte w*^ him, whoe so soone as shee
was entred into the said doore, made faste the same,
and shutt out those that broughte her, and presently
broughte her upp a stayres into a fayre and a large
greate chambre, beinge hanged all aboute w^^ arras in
the w"".^ chambre there was a chymney, and therein
was a great fyre and from thence through the said
chambre shee was conveyed unto an other chambre
leeke proporcion, and hanged in leeke sort6 as the
fyi'ste was, in the w^^ chambre was also a chymney
and a greate fyre, and passinge through the said
seconde chambre, shee was broughte into a thyrde
chambre, hanged also rychlye w^f* arras, in the w^f"
chambre there was a bed rychlye and gorgeouslye
furnished the curteynes of the said bed beinge alle
close drawen about the said bed. And so soone as

LITTLECOTE

shee was entered in at the doore of the laste resited
chambre, the said partye in the longe velvet goune
ronned softly in her eare sayinge ; loe, in yonder bed
lyethe the gentle woman that you are sente for to
come unto, go unto her and see that yow doe youre
uttermost endevoyre towardes her, and yf shee be
safely delivered, you shall not fayle of greate rewarde,
but if shee myscarry in her traveyle, yow shall dye.
Wheruppon, as one amased, she departed from the
said gentleman to the beddes syde, fyndinge there a
gentlewoman in traveyle, lyenge in greate estate,
as by the furniture uppon her and aboute her it dyd
appeare, this gentlewoman's face beinge couered
eyther w*^ a viser or a cell, but w^^ w''? I doe not
remembre. And shortly after her cominge she was
delivered of a man childe, whoe for lacke of other
clothes was fayne to be wrayped in the myd-wyfes
apron, and so was carried by the said midwyfe into
one of the two fyrste chambres that shee passed
throughe at the fyrste w^^ the gentleman, fynding
the said gentleman there at her coming thither, whoe
demaunded of her whether the partye that shee came
from was delivered of childe or no, whoe aunswered
that shee was safely delivered of a man childe w''?' shee
there presently shewed him, requiringe him that some
provision of clothes might be had to*wrapp it w*? alle,
who incontinently brought e her to the fyre syde, into
the w^.'' fyre he commaunded her to caste the childe,

48 LITTLECOTE

wheruppon shee kneeled doune unto Mm, desyringe
him that he would not seeke to destroy it, but rather
geve it unto her, promisinge him to keep it as her
owne, and to be sworne never to disclose it, the w""^
thinge the gentleman woulde not yelde unto, but
forthw'^^ the childe was caste into the fyre, but whether
by the mydwyfe her selfe, or by him, or by them both
I doe not perfectly remembre. And so soon as this
horrible facte was done, shee was commaunded to
goe backe agayne to the gentlewoman, where she
remayned all that day and by nighte was broughte
backe agayne by those two men that broughte her
thither, whoe sett her some myles distante from
her house, but whether two myles or more I doe not
remembre. And I demaundinge of her w"^ way shee
wente in rydinge thither, shee aunswered that as shee
supposed she wente faste by Dunington Parke, leavinge
the said parke on her righte hande, and demaundinge of
her by what houses she traveyled by, shee aunswered
that shee traveyled by dyuers houses w*'.^ shee knewe
not, and demaundinge ouver or throughe what waters
shee passed, she aunswered shee passed over a greate
and a longe bridge w"?" as shee tryly supposed was
a bridge over the Thames, as by the water w*'^ passed
throughe the said bridge beinge very greate shee dyd
imagine.

" By me Anthonte Bridges."

LITTLECOTE

" And after this, the seid Erie required of me to
knowe whether I had att any tyme heretofore made
relacon thereof before Wm. Darell, and I answered
that I had. The seid Erie demanded then howe the
said William did loke, and what he said. Whereupon
finding him maliciouslie bent against the said William
Darell, I shortlie after declared the same to the said
William, and did sett downe the speche of the said
Mother Barnes in suche manner as I did deliver it
unto the said Erie under my hande writinge as above
said."

The following letter from Bridges to Darrell refers,
presumably, to the same subject.

"My good Cosen,

"I commende me hartily unto you, being
very sory that my happ was not to be at home when
you were laste at my house, for I am w*^ childe to
speake w*? you as well for myne owne matter of twentye
poundes as also for other matters w**?* you wyll wonder
to heare, and yet I suppose they concerne youre selfe.
I have byn of late amongeste craftye crowders whoe
walked w*? me on parables a longe tyme, and cowlered
theyre doinges w*^ suttell sophistrye, still gropinge
and undermininge me in matters of greate importance,
yea, as great as may be to those partyes to whome they

" Wild "
Darrell.

50 LITTLECOTE

dyd apperteyne, but I at the firste perceaved theyre
inglynge, and gave theyre doinges in the beginnige
suche a dashe, that they seemed therew*?' alle utterly
discomfited, being as they said, a commissioner chose
for them. The matter feare you not yf it be no worse
then I knowe, ther was a partye named whome the
said matter dyd concerne, othorwyse then a gentleman
dwellinge within three myles of my house, but I
perceaved theyi*e fetche was not to have me a com-
missioner, but a deponente yf they coulde have gotten
any thinge from me that mighte have made for theyre
purpose. I wyll tell you alle the substance of the
matter (as I conjecture) at oure nexte meetinge, but
the partyes I may not name.

" I am nowe rydinge towardes Hampshyre in
earneste busines, and doe mynde, God willinge, to
be at Ludgarshalle this nighte at bed, where my busi-
nes is suche that I must remayne thies three dayes as
I suppose, and in my retorne I wyll God wyllinge see
you at Lyttlecote. My wyfe is ah*eady rydden towards
Ludgershall. This I committ yow to Almighty God
from Shefforde, the xxiiij'^l' of Julye 1578.

" Yom-e lovinge Cosen,
and assured frende to commende,
[Endorsed] " Ai^thonye Bridges.

" To the Righte worshipfulle,
my very lovinge cosen WyUiam Darrell, Esquier, geve
this at Lyttlecote w*?" speede."

LITTLECOTE

Here is a letter, recently discovered at Longleat,
from Sir Henry Knyvett, of Charlton, to Sir John
Thynne, of Longleat : —

" Syr,

" I besetch you lett me crave so much favour
of you as to procure your servant Mr. Bonham,
moste effectually to examin his sister, tochinge her
usage att Willm Dorrell's, the berth of her children,
howe many they were, and what becam of them. She
shall have no cawse off feare trulie, to confess the
uttermost, for I will defend her from aU perill howe
so ever the case fall owte. The brute of the murder
of one of them increaseth fowlely, and theare falleth
owte such other heyghnous matter against him as
will toche him to the quick.

" From Charlton this ijth of January 1578.

" Your loving friend,

" H. Knyvett.

" To the right worshipful and my very lovinge
friend, Syr John Thynne, Kyght, Geve this."

It will be noted that Mother Barnes, who deposes
that the message which summoned her from her
house was represented as coming from Lady Knyvett,
does not say that she was blindfolded, but that after
leaving her house and being on horseback for several
hours in the night, she found herself in the early

52 LITTLECOTE

morning at another house, and that the lady whom she
had to attend was masked. She does not say what
house this was, and she does not appear to have
known. Her deposition gives the fullest particulars
of the atrocity committed, but fails to identify Little-
cote as the house, or " Wild " Darrell as the criminal.

Tradition certainly connects Mother Barnes's story
with Darrell and Littlecote; and also suggests that
Littlecote came into the hands of Popham as the
price of his entering — as Attorney- General — a nolle
prosequi to a charge of child-murder against Darrell.

On the other hand there appears to be no conclusive
evidence to corroborate this tradition in either respect,
and it is quite certain that Popham helped Darrell out
of such a maze of other difficulties that (putting aside
all suggestion of a child murder, and of a nolle
prosequi) he did quite enough to have earned the
reversion of Littlecote.

Amidst much that is mysterious it is clear that
Popham succeeded Darrell in the possession of Little-
cote, on the death of the latter in 1589 ; but what
was the price paid, and whether it were in money
or in kind, are questions which, though asked by
the Wiltshire gossips 300 years ago, still remain
unanswered.

But though Darrell got out of prison his enemies
attacked all who were known to favour his cause,

LITTLECOTE

and he wrote to Ms fellow justices to warn them
that the position could not be strained further without
bloodshed.

He was, however, making good his retreat; for
he was in communication with his friends at Court,
and was preparing to buy the assistance which he
could not otherwise obtain.

He secured the good of&ces of his kinsman. Sir
Thomas Bromley, the Lord Chancellor, by an offer
recorded below, an offer that was repeated soon
afterwards, upon Sir Thomas Bromley's death in 1587,
to Sir John Popham, the Attorney- General, who had
already rendered Darrell great services in his innumer-
able lawsuits. Here is the offer to Sir Thomas
Bromley, expressed in a letter from Darrell to his
cousin, Reynold Scriven.

"... But for that I may not be ungrateful
for things passed And to have him my good and
Indyfferent Lorde if it may be, I pray yo"" move, and
as yo" may, lett fall in substaunce this. I have a
maner standinge in good sorte w*? one of the Realme
of 300?. by the yeare in every condition wel to be
liked. This will I convey to my Lorde And mr. Harry
Bromley that hath maryed my kinswoman & to his

eyers in such sorte as I now have it of that valewe if

54 LITTLECOTE

" " I dy w^l'out heyer male of my body begotten. And
""^^ ' that this I will do I do not sett it downe only in letter
but I will also enter into covenant or be bound in
statute of for the doinge of it, w^^ this conditen
added to it more ; that if I fortune to have eyer of
my body Then shall my Lord on M merkes payd him
or his w*Hn thre yeares after or ells shall he or his
have so muche payde after my death w^l'in one year
as from a frind ; this in choyse."

He also secured the interest of Sir Francis
Walsingham.

At last Lord Pembroke pressed for his promised
ransom. The alternative was imprisonment upon
a private bond ; for Lord Pembroke had only issued
his threatening notices through the mouth of ser-
vants, and Darrell had but his own copy of the cor-
respondence wherewith to support an improbable
tale. Darrell answered that " He was a freeman,
and subject to none but the prince, to whom my
lord was subject as well as he." To a second com-
munication, still more threatening, he returned word
" that he would pray for his lordship." He was,
indeed, reduced to great straits for money, but he
was still the lord of thousands of acres upon the
famous downlands of three fertile southern counties.

LITTLECOTE

He fled to Court, and there his friends stood him
in good stead.

The great lawyers of the day busied themselves
with his affairs, pushed his business through, and
curbed his rashness. The Secretary of State, at
the same time, hastened to extend to " his very loving
friend " the benefit of his immediate protection. He
spoke fair words to the enemies of his proUg^^ chief
of whom was Pembroke, but made them understand
that they must relinquish their pursuit, and stayed
extreme proceedings on either side.

Almost immediately a new opportunity seemed to
offer itself for Darrell's energies. The Armada
threatened England, and men and horses were pressed
into her defence from every shire. Darrell caught
the martial fever of the hour, and made offers of
personal assistance, beyond his own liabilities, to his
new friend the Secretary. His zeal was represented
favourably to the Queen, and was rewarded by an
invitation to present himself in defence of Her
Majesty's person, in immediate attendance upon his
patron. The latter also required the officers of the
Crown for Darrell's own district to dispense with the
levies required of that gentleman in consideration
of his present services ; for Darrell had agreed to
undertake the equipment of the cornet of horse which
Walsingham had thought it incumbent on himself
to furnish towards the national defence.

LITTLECOTE

Thus it was that "Wild " Darrell became a courtier.
When the excitement of the Armada had died away,
he found enough to occupy him in London, where
henceforward he spent the best part of his time. And
certainly he had managed to connect his name with
some of the most intricate cases of the day. His
matters had come before every permanent Court in
the kingdom — in the Chancery, the King's Bench,
the Exchequer, the Common Pleas, the Com'ts of
Wards and Liveries, Requests, and Star Chamber,
the Spmtual Com'ts, and even were the subject of
discussion in the Council Chamber and the Presence.

In the years 1, 6, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22, 24, 27, 29,
and 30 Elizabeth twenty-two suits were brought by
Darrell against upwards of fifty defendants in the
Com't of Star Chamber. He appeared at the County
Assizes, County Com*t, and Quarter Sessions ; and
his steward, and his agents, as his representatives
in the various Manor Com'ts of his estate, always
had their hands full.

Among "Wild" Darrell's correspondents was his
cousin. Sir Marmaduke Darell (a descendant of the
Darells of Calehill, and styled in his epitaph " Servant
to Queen Elizabeth in her Wars by sea and land, and
Cofferer to James and King Charles I."). One of
his letters gives an account of the execution of Mary
Queen of Scots, at Fotheringay Castle, at which he
was present as an eye-witness.

LITTLECOTE

•• Wild"

Marmadtjkb Darell to William Darrell. Darren.
"Sir,

" The conveniencye of this messenger w*? the
newes w"}" this place dothe presentlye yelde ; occasion-
ethe me to trouble yo'^ w*? theis few lynes. I doubte
not but w*!" yo?, as well as in the contrie hereaboutes ;
there hathe bene of late sondrye straunge rumors
bruted concerninge the Sco : Queene prisoner here ;
w*'? all, as they have bene hitherto untrewe ; so now yt
is most true, that she hathe endured that fatall stroke
this dale, that will excuse her from beinge accessarye
to any like maters that may happen henceforthe.

"Between x and xj of the clocke this present
Thursdaie, she was beheaded in the hall of this castle ;
there being present at y* as Comissionfs, onely the
Earle of Shewsbiu'ye and the Earle of Kente ; fowre
other Earles were joyned w*!" them in the Oomission,
but came not. The sherive of this shere. Si: Rich:
Knightlye, S- Edwarde^ Mountague, w'!" div^s other
gentlemen of good accompte, wer also here at the
execucon. Touchinge the manner of yt, all due order
was most carefully observed in yt; she her selfe
endured yt (as wee must all truely sale that were eye
wittnesses) w*? great courage, and shewe of magnani-
mitye, albeit in some other respectes she ended not
so well as ys to be wished. The order for her funerall,
ys not yet determined uppon ; but wilbe very shortlye ;

« Wild "
Darrell.

58 LITTLECOTE /

as also for her people, who (wee thinke) shalbe safelye
conducted to their native contries. Thus have yo°
brieflie, that w*?* wilbe no doubte very shortlie reported
unto you more at large. In the meane tyme I beseche
yo" accepte in good pte this small shewe of my duetifull
remembraunce of yo^' And so w*^ my humble comen-
drcons I leave yo'^ to the merciful ptection of the
Almightie.

ffrom ffotheringaie castle this
viij*f of ffebruarye 1586.

" Yo^ poore kinsman to comaunde
[Endorsed] Mar: Darell."

" To the right woorsliipp" Wi Willm. Darell Esquire
at his house at Littlecott."

Darrell, during his sojourn in London, occupied a
house in Warwick Lane (a narrow thoroughfare which,
jointly with Ave Maria Lane, connects Newgate
Street with Ludgate Hill, running across the bottom
of Paternoster Row), but, though humbly lodged,
fared sumptuously at his table. Littlecote was a long
day's ride (sixty-eight miles) from London, by easy
stages it took three days, yet its owner contrived to
have nearly all the delicacies of the country sent to
him from there. Throughout the summer there were
always two, at least, of the local " talent " engaged
in fishing the Kennet, and baskets of fresh " trowtes "

LITTLECOTE

were sent to London by express messengers. Besides
these "fesant netts" were used, and in May! The
home dove-cot furnished countless " pigeon-pies,"
twelve of which were delivered at Holborn Bridge
on one occasion; and venison, rabbits, chickens,
" grene gese," and other poultry were sent up in
abundance. And there were strawberries, but these
Cornelius, the Dutch gardener, supplied with a
niggardly hand.

On the 14th of July, 1589, DarreU left London
on a visit to Littlecote. The party supped at
Hounslow on that day; on the 15th they dined at
Maidenhead, and supped at Reading; and on the
16th they dined at Newbury, and rode on to Littlecote.
The steward paid the reckonings by the way, which
were as foUows : —

Charges of coming down, viz. :

Supper at Houndslow, July l^*?

. lOf

Horsemeat there .

. 7?

Dyner at Maydenhedd, July 15*?"

. 15^

Horsemeat there .

. 4!

Supper at Reading

. 13?

Horsemeat there .

. 6?

Dyner at Newbury, July 16*^

. 8^

Horsemeat there .

. 3?

Poor people at Newbury

A poor man at Spene

Total

£3 9

4-^

60 LITTLECOTE

Darrell died on October 1st following, in Ms forty-
ninth year, according to local tradition, of a faU
from his horse, while riding over what is stiU known
as " Darrell's stile."

Popham had an agent on the spot, who seized
the papers of the deceased, and despatched them to
London, there to await the arbitration promised
between the respective claims of the Attorney- General
and the Secretary of State.

The following letter from Popham's agent describes
what happened after Darrell's death.

William Rede to Miles Sandys.

" S% So it is that at Attornies last beinge in
Wilteshire, at a place called Littlecot, sometyme
belonginge to WiUm Darrell Esquier deceased,
but now to Attorney, my happe in the absence
of M". Attornie upon the deth of Darrell to
gether all suche evidences as was in the house of
Littlecote into my possession to Attornies use.
And since that tyme it dothe appeare that S^ Fraunces
Walsingham dothe pretend title to some or other
of the landes of the said M. Darrell wherof no parte
dothe appertaine to M. Attornie. And that the evy-
dences as well concerninge that which M. Attornie

LITTLECOTE 61

is to have in righte ^ dothe enjoye, as also
these landes that S- Frances Walsingham dothe
pretend title unto, did remaine in the house of
Littlecott at the tyme of M"" Darrell's decease which
evidences are conveyed to London, already in
greate chestes. But the keys of these chestes
were lefte withe me, aswell by Atornie, as
by one Stubbes gent, that was appointed in
the behaulfe of Fraunces Walsingham safdie
^ indifferentlie to be kepte tyl the tyme should be
appointed, by Mr Secretarye that the chestes should
be opened ^ the evidences perused, aswell for M.
Secretorye as for Attornie. Since which tyme I
I have receaved letters from M"^ Attornie, that
Secretoryes pleasure is with the assent of M'' Attornie,
to have the evidences perused with all spede. And
for as much as I shall not have occasion to be at
London these sixe or seaven daies, Mr Attorney hath
craved me to send the said keyes forthwith enclosed
in my letters to some gentleman of the benche of the
Middle Temple whereby they maye be hadd with
some spede to perfourme Mr Secretoryes expectacion.
Amongest the which I have made choyse of you for
that you are Mr Attornies frend ^ myne also Desiringe
you to acquaint Mr Attornie therewith ^ that then
the same maye be safilie delyvered, according to the
trust to me comitted — ^And so with my hartie comen-
dacions, your helth wished, I committ you to the

62 LITTLECOTE

government of the Almightie. From Chisbm-ie the
xxj*f* of October 1589.

" Yo' frjud assuryd,
[Endorsed] "William Rede.

" To the Ryght worshipfull
Myles Sandys Esquyar
at his chambers in the
Middell Temple yn London
Geve thes."

This was the end of the Darrells of Littlecote,
and in the county ruled by Pembroke, the birthplace
of the "Arcadia," there was soon a new magnate,
by whom Queen Elizabeth was invited to visit the
lost home of her unfortunate kinsman.

'« Wild
Darrell,

SIR JOHN POPHAM, LORD CHIEF JUSTICE.

Chief John Popham, who succeeded Darrell in possession
Tustwe q£ Littlecote, in 1589, was descended from an old

ypluiin,

Norman family settled at Popham, a hamlet in
Hampshire, early in the twelfth century.

Leland says of the family in his Itinerary :

" There was one of the Pophams that had this

LITTLECOTE

Stile by Offices Chauncelar of Normandy, Capitaine ^^'^f
ofVernoile, of Perche, of Susan and Bayon. Tresorer
of the Kinges Housold. He lyith in the Charter
House Chirch in London. The first Nobilitating
of the Pophams, as it is said, was by Matilde
Emperes, Doughter to Henry the firsts, and by
Henry the 2. her Sunne."

The estate of Huntworth, in Somersetshire, was
acquired by marriage in the reign of Edward I. ;
and there John, the future Chief Justice, was born,
about the year 1531, being the second son of
Alexander Popham of that place, by his wife Jane,
the daughter of Sir Edward Stradling, of St. Donat's
Castle, Glamorganshire.

It is related of Sir John Popham by Lord Campbell,
in his Lives of the Chief Justices^ that " while yet a
child he was stolen by a band of gipsies, and re-
mained some months in their society," and that " his
captors had disfigured him, and had burnt on his left
arm a cabalistic mark, which he carried with him to
the grave."

His elder brother, Edward, succeeded to the family
estates ; but he was sent to Balliol College, Oxford,
where he was studious, and laid in a good stock

LITTLECOTE

of classical learning and dogmatic divinity. When,
however, he removed to the Middle Temple, that
he might qualify himself for the profession of the
law, he is said to have got into bad company, and
neglected his judicial studies. Tradition would also
have us believe that he frequently sallied forth at
night from a hotel in Southwark, with a band of
desperate characters, and that planting themselves
in ambush on Shooters' Hill they stopped travellers,
and took from them their money and valuables.

Aubrey ascribes his reformation to the influence
of his wife (Amy, daughter of Robert Games, of
Glamorgan).

" For several yeares he addicted himself but little
to the studie of the lawes, but profligate company,
and was wont to take a pm'se with them. His wife
considered her and his condition, and at last prevailed
with him to lead another life, and to stick to the studie
of the lawe, which, upon her importunity, he did,
beeing then about thirtie yeares old. He spake to
his wife to provide a very good entertainment for
his camerades to take his leave of them, and after
that day fell extremely hard to his studie, and profited
exceedingly. He was a strong, stout man, and could
endure to sit at it day and night."

LITTLECOTE

Fuller, in his Worthies, says of him : — cAic/

Just'ux
PopTiam.

" In his youthful days he was as stout and skilful
a man at sword and buckler as any in that age,
and wild enough in his recreations. But, oh, if Quick-
silver could really be fixed, to what a treasure would
it amount. Such is wild youth seriously reduced to
gravity, as by this young man did appear. He
applied himself to more profitable fencing — the study
of the laws."

It is in Wiltshire that we find Popham early
exercising his legal abilities; and, after a time, he
was consulted in almost all Darrell's difllculties.
His family was related of old to the Darrells, of
Littlecote. Young George Darrell, William Darrell's
cousin, and early housemate, was probably a fellow-
student with Popham at the Temple. Besides this,
Popham's grandfather had married the sister (co-
heiress with her) of the wife of one of the Blounts
of Gloucestershire. There had been a law-suit about
the property thus claimed from the Pophams' grand-
mother, the latter family claiming the whole. There
was also a mysterious connexion between these same
Blounts and the DarreUs of Littlecote. A Blount
was in disputed occupation of some of Sir Edward
Darrell's property; a Blount was settled at Chilton
Foliat; and it was a Blount of whose murder Wild

Darrell was afterwards accused of being an accessory.

66 LITTLECOTE
Chief Another Wiltshire ally was the Earl of Pembroke.

Justice

Popham. Popham had interests at Salisbury, and had married
a Glamorganshire heiress (Amy, daughter of Robert
Games, of Caselton), a county in which Pembroke
was paramount, and where Darrell also seems to have
had some property in mines.

Popham was nominated Reader at the Temple in
1568, when he was thirty- seven years old; and he
became Treasurer twelve years afterwards. In the
interval between these two dates he had obtained, as
Member for Bristol, a seat in Parliament, where,
in 1571, when the subsidy was under discussion, he
joined with Mr. Bell (the future Chief Baron) in
calling for the correction of some abuses, and pointed
out the evil of allowing the Treasurers of the Crown
to retain in their hands " great masses of money,"
of which, becoming bankrupt, they only paid an
instalment.

In the next year he was one of the committee
appointed to confer with the Lords on the subject
of the Queen of Scots. He was called to the degree
of the coif on January 28th, 1578 ; and in the following
year, when Sir Thomas Bromley was promoted to
be Lord Chancellor, he was offered the place of
Solicitor-General. This office being inferior in rank
to that of a serjeant-at-law, he resorted to the
unusual expedient of unserj canting or discoiflng
himself, obtained a patent exonerating him from

LITTLECOTE

the degree of serjeant, and was thereupon appointed ^^^f
Solicitor- General on June 26th, 1579. Popham,

While holding that office he was elected Speaker
of the House of Commons in January, 1581 ; and
some idea may be formed of the lightness of parlia-
mentary labours during that session, by his reply to
Queen Elizabeth, when, on his attending her on some
occasion, she said, " Well, Mr. Speaker, what hath
passed in the Lower House?" he answered, "If it
please your Majesty, seven weeks."

On June 1st, 1581, he became Attorney- General,
and held that office for eleven years, dmnng which
he took part in all those criminal trials, the perusal
of which, even where the guilt of the prisoner is
most apparent, cannot but rouse feelings of wonder
at the injustice of the proceedings.

Popham was present at Fotheringay during the
trial of the Queen of Scots, but did not interfere much
in the proceedings, as the part of public prosecutor
was acted in turn by Lord Chancellor Bromley, Lord
Treasurer Burleigh, and Vice-Chamberlain Hatton,
who were sitting as her judges.

When poor Secretary Davison (intended to be the
scapegoat for the sins of all concerned in her death)
was brought before the Star Chamber, Popham
enlarged on the enormity of his offence in sending
off the warrant for her execution without the Queen's
express orders, although she had signed it, and it

68 LITTLECOTE

had passed the Great Seal by her authority, and
with her approbation.

His elevation to the office of Lord Chief Justice
of the King's Bench took place in June, 1592, when
he was knighted. He presided in that court for
the fifteen remaining years of his life — eleven under
Queen Elizabeth, and four under King James.

On Sunday, the 8th of February, 1601, when
Elizabeth, in her palace at Whitehall, was informed
that the young Earl of Essex had madly fortified
his house in the Strand, and had planned an insurrec-
tion in the City of London, she immediately ordered
Chief Justice Popham to accompany Ellesmere, the
Lord Keeper, and summon the rebels to surrender.
They went unattended, except by their mace-bearers.
Essex having complained of ill-treatment from his
enemies, the Chief Justice said calmly, " The Queen
will do impartial justice." He then, in the Queen's
name, required the forces collected in the court-yard
to lay down their arms, and to depart, when a cry
burst out of " Kill them ; kill them."

Lord Essex rescued them from violence, but locked
them up in a dungeon, while he himself sallied forth
in hopes of successfully raising the standard of
rebellion in the City of London. After being kept
in solitary confinement till the afternoon, Popham
was offered his liberty on condition that the Lord
Keeper should remain behind as a hostage; but the

LITTLECOTE

Chief Justice refused to depart without his com- ^^'^f
panions in confinement, saying "as they came p^^ji^
together, so would they go together, or die together."
At length, upon news arriving of Essex's failure in
the City, they were liberated, and made good their
retreat to Whitehall in a boat.

The trial of Essex coming on before the Lord
High Steward and Court of Peers, Popham was both
assessor and witness. First a written deposition,
signed by him, was read, and then he was examined
viva voce. His evidence was temperate and cautious,
and afforded a striking contrast to the vituperation
of Coke, the Attorney- General, and the sophistry of
Bacon, who seemed to thirst for the blood of his bene-
factor. Popham, though so severe against common
felons, apparently felt some gratitude for the treat-
ment he had experienced when in the power of Essex,
and recommended a pardon, which would have been
extended to him, if the fatal ring had duly reached
the hands of Elizabeth.

One of his earliest duties, after the accession of
James, was to preside at the trial of Sir Walter
Raleigh, for being concerned in the plot to place
Lady Arabella Stuart on the throne, a trial stained
not only by a conviction founded on weak and unsatis-
factory evidence, but also by the conduct towards the
prisoner of Sir Edward Coke, for which the Chief
Justice felt himseK called upon to apologise, saying to

70 LITTLECOTE

chwf gjj. Walter, " Mr. Attorney speaketh out of the zeal
Popham. of his duty for the service of the King, and you
for your life ; be valiant on both sides."

Raleigh was found guilty, and sentence of death
was then pronounced, but his life was spared for
the present, and the task was reserved for another
Chief Justice, after the lapse of many years, to
award that the sentence should be carried into
execution.

The last State trials over which he presided were
those of the conspirators in the Gunpowder Plot,
finishing with that of Garnet the Jesuit, in March, 1606.

He is reported to have been a severe judge, and,
according to Fuller, to have recommended James
to be more sparing in his pardons to the malefactors
who then infested the highways. This author adds,
" In a word, the deserved death of some scores
preserved the lives and livelyhoods of more thousands,
travellers owing their safety to this judge's severity
many years after his death."

David Lloyd, in his State Worthies, gives him
credit for having " first set up the discovery of Kew
England to maintain and employ those that could
not live honestly in the Old ; being of opinion that
banishment thither would be as well a more lawful
as a more effectual remedy against these extrava-
gancies." And Aubrey says, " He stockt and
planted Virginia out of all the goales of England."

LITTLECOTE

Neither of these accounts is quite correct; the
truth being that, having associated himself with Sir popft«»
Ferdinando Gorges (the knight who released him
from Lord Essex's house) in a speculation for the
establishment of a colony in North America, a patent
was granted to them and to several others ; but
whatever might have been his intentions as to trans-
portation, the Chief Justice does not appear to have
lived to see them carried into effect.

In 1863 the Historical Society of Maine, U.S.A.,
published a memorial volume of the Popham Celebra-
tion in August 29th, 1862, which commemorated the
planting of the Popham Colony on the peninsula of
Sabino, August 10th, 1607.

George Popham was the captain of a ship called
The Gift of God, which in company with another ship
called The Mary and John, commanded by Raleigh
Gilbert, sailed from Plymouth for New England, May
31st, 1607, with 120 persons.

After exploring the coast and islands of New
England they landed on an island, which they called
St. George, on Sunday, August 9th, 1607, where they
heard a sermon delivered by the Rev. R. Seymour.

August 15th they entered a river called Saga
Dahoe, and on the 19th they all went ashore and made
choice of their plantation. After another sermon the
commission was read, with the patent and the laws
to be observed and kept.

72 LITTLECOTE /

c/iie/ The Royal Ordinance, dated November 2(3tli, 1606,

Justice t/ 7 7 7

Popham. appointed, among others on the Council of Virginia,
Sir Francis Popham (the son of the Chief Justice),
and Sir Ferdinando Gorges.

Another Royal Ordinance, dated March 9th, 1607,
nominated — on the recommendation of the Southern
Company — additional members of the Council of
Virginia, including Sir Maurice Berkeley, Sir Oliver
Cromwell, Sir Edward Hungerford, Sir John Mallet
(a son-in-law of the Chief Justice), Sir John Gilbert,
Sir Bartholemew Michell, Edward Seymour, Esq., and
Edward Rogers (another son-in-law of the Chief
Justice). This George Popham, who commanded the
expedition, was the nephew of the Chief Justice
and belonged to the elder branch of the family. He
had been on a voyage to the West Indies in 1594.
In 1606 he was appointed Governor of Popham
Colony in New England. He died February 5th,
1607/8, and was buried within the walls of his Fort,
caUed Fort St. George.

Sir John Popham, the Lord Chief Justice, died
in June, 1607, aged 76, and was buried in the church
at Wellington, in Somersetshire, leaving behind him
the greatest estate that had ever been amassed by
any lawyer.

LITTLECOTE

THE HOUSE.

The present house of Littlecote is believed to have The House.
been built between 1490 and 1520, in the place, though
not on the site, of a more ancient building.

In front of the gates, just to the west, is
"Darrell's tree," which, the natives aflfirm, will
flourish with the fortunes of the House. The iron
entrance gates (which mark the site of the old gate-
house, as shown in the picture over the fireplace
in the Great Hall), and the sundial (which, on a fine
day, tells us the time at "Isphan," "Aleppo," " Charles
Town," &c., as well as at " Littlecot ") are worthy
of notice. Over the doorway, on a shield decorated
with good carving, are the arms of the Pophams.
The elevations of the house, with sober brick front
running up uninterrupted to the great eaves course,
and its multitudinous gables on the north side, are
absolutely and solely English.

On entering the house is seen a glass window,
dated 1533, representing St. Benedict (the two side
windows are comparatively modern), and on turning
to the left one enters

The Great Hall,

with its plaster ceiling, high windows on one side,

and dark oak panelling all round. This ceiling is

74 LITTLECOTE /

a good example of the purely English ceiling, with
simple moulded ribs, worked in geometrical designs
with pendants at the intersections.

Noting the chief objects of interest, somewhat in
chronological order, among the shields and devices on
the windows (and the glass of the upper windows
ought to be specially noticed) are the initials of
Henry YIII. and Jane Seymour, with a little Cupid's
head; Henry having been at Wulfhall close by with
the Darrells' relatives, the Seymours, when he heard
of the death of Anne Boleyn.*

There are also to be noted a full-length portrait of
Edward VI. (son of Jane Seymour, and great-great-
grandson of Sir George Darrell, of Littlecote), and
a portrait ( originally at Condover Hall ) of his
uncle, Edward Seymour, afterwards the Protector
Somerset.

Edward Seymour (created Viscount Beauchamp
on the marriage of his sister Jane to Henry VIII.,
and soon afterwards Earl of Hertford) devoted him-
self to soldiering, and in 1544 commanded an expedi-
tion against the Scots, when he landed at Leith, and
set fire to Edinburgh. On the death of Henry in 1547,
who had named him one of his executors, he rose to

* Jane Seymour was married to Henry VIII. 20 May, 1536 (the day after the
beheading of her predecessor), at her father's house at Wulfhall. Owing to the
plague then prevailing she was never crowned. She died 24 or 25 October, 1537,
and was buried at St. George's Chapel, Windsor.

LITTLECOTE

great power, and was appointed Governor of the King, tjis House.
and Protector of the Realm. In 1548 he obtained the
post of Lord Treasurer, was created Duke of Somerset,
and made Earl-Marshall. In the same year he in-
vaded Scotland, and, having gained the battle of
Musselburgh, returned in triumph to England. His
success excited the jealousy of the Earl of Warwick
and others, who first procured his confinement in
the Tower, for a short time in 1549, on a charge of
arbitrary conduct and injustice, and finally — two
years afterwards — caused him to be again arrested
on a charge of treasonable designs against the lives
of some of the privy councillors. He was beheaded
on Tower Hill, January 22nd, 1552. On this portrait
are inscribed these verses : —

" Of person rare, strong limbes & manly shape.
Of nature framed to sarve on sea & land.
Of Friendship firm in good state & ill hape,
In peace heade and in ware skiU great boulde hande.
On horse on fote in periU or in playe
None coulde excel though many did asaye.
A subject true to Kinge and sarvant greate
Frind to Gods truth enimy to romes deceate
Sumptuose abroad for honour of the lande
Temperate at home yet keapte greate state
And gave more mouthes more meate

76 LITTLECOTE /

Then some advanst one higher steps to stand.

Yet against nature reason and just lawes

His blood was spilt justless without just cause."

At the foot of the portrait of Edward VI. is a
document, dated Oatlands, July 13th, 1552, under his
sign-manual, and signed also by William, 1st Marquis
of Winchester (who was Lord Treasurer of England
during the reigns of Edward YI., Mary, and Eliza-
beth), — Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk (Lord High
Constable of England), — William Parr, Marquis of
Northampton (Captain of the Corps of Gentleman
Pensioners), brother of Queen Katherine Parr, —
Edward Clynton, afterwards created Earl of Lincoln
by Queen Elizabeth (Lord High Admiral and Con-
stable of the Tower of London), — Edward 1st Lord
North, — Sir Edward Bowes (Master of the Rolls), —
The Bishop of Ely (Thomas Goodrick), — Sir John
Mason (Dean of Winchester), — Nicholas Wotten
(Dean of Canterbury, Dean of York, and formerly
Secretary of State), — and Sir Philip Hoby. Also
note a letter, signed by Queen Elizabeth to Henry lY.
of France, and dated October 17th, 1598.

There are also an old Persian astrolabe, and an
armillary sphere, dated 1602, fashioned under the
Ptolemaic system, with the earth as the centre of
the Universe. It is interesting to remember that

LITTLECOTE

the decree of Pope Paid V., in 1616, condemning Th^souse.
the then new Copernican system, was not revoked
tiU 1818, by Pope Pius VII.

Then there are two stoneware "greybeards" (1594),
the chair and thumbstocks of Chief Justice Popham,
the silver mace that was carried before Charles I.'s Life
Guards, two fine old "black jacks," a curious clock
that requires winding but once a year, and the most
obvious, and not the least interesting, thing in the
haU, the long "shovel-board." There is also a fine
bronze bust of Oliver Cromwell, which was originally
at Hinton St. George. Essex, eldest daughter of
Colonel Alexander Popham, married John, 3rd Lord
Poulett, of Hinton St. George,

The large equestrian portrait (4a)* at the west
end of the haU (hung over a magnificent pair of
Irish elk horns measuring 7 feet 6 inches from tip
to tip) is known as that of Colonel Alexander PopJiam,
son of Sir Francis Popham, and grandson of Chief
Justice Popham. Like his father and his brother
Edward, the eminent Parliamentary commander, he
was an opponent of Charles I., and his retainers and
yeomen are said to have worn those yellow leathern
jerkins arranged round the waUs, which, since the
fire at Warwick Castle, form the best collection of

* This picture is labelled as described above. There are, in the long gallery,
portraits of Alexander and Edward Popham ; and, to the impartial observer, this
picture has a greater likeness to the latter than to the former.

LITTLECOTE

The House, guch tMngs cxtaiit. With these must be coupled the
bandoleers, petronels, helmets, &c. ; while between
the two arched openings at the eastern end hangs
the armour said to have been worn by the Colonel
himself.

Colonel Alexander Popham took an active part
in the military transactions of the period, and
sustained a siege of his house at Wellington,
Somerset, by the King's forces. He afterwards
assisted General Monk in restoring Charles II., and
on February 23rd, 1659, was elected one of the Council
of State, which took upon itself the administration
of the Government between the dissolution of the
Long Parliament and the restoration of the King.
He obtained his pardon, and on September 21st, 1663,
when Charles II. was making a "Royal Progress
from London to Bath," " gave the King a costly
dinner at Littlecot."

In the Signet book in the Kecord Ofl&ce, December,
1660, is the Pardon granted to Alexander Popham, of
Littlecote, Wilts, Esq., subscribed by Mr. Solicitor,
and signed by Mr. Secretary Morice.

The father of John Locke, the philosopher, served,
in Colonel Ludlow's troop of horse, under Colonel
Alexander Popham, who interested himself in the
education of the son, and was instrumental in sending
him to Oxford.

LITTLECOTE

Drawing Koom.

In the Drawing Room are portraits of: —

(1a.) Chief Justice Popham. Perhaps a copy
of the older picture — No. 1 — in the Long Gallery.

( 8a. ) Letitia^ only daughter of Sir Francis
Popham, K.B., of Littlecote, by his wife Helena,
daughter of Hugh Rogers, of Cannington, Somerset.
Letitia married Sir Edward Seymour, 5th Baronet, of
Berry Pomeroy, and, by him, became the mother of
Edward, who afterwards became 6th Baronet, and,
in 1750, 8th Duke of Somerset. Sir Edward Sey-
mour, 5th Baronet, was the great-great-great-great-
great-grandson of Sir John Seymour, Kt. (who was
the grandson of Sir George Darrell, of Littlecote, and
the father of Jane Seymour, mother of Edward YL).

(13.) Francis Popham, of Littlecote and Hun-
strete, son of Edward Popham, M.P., and of his wife^
Rebecca Huddon. Married Dorothy, daughter of
Mathew Hutton, Archbishop of Canterbury. Born
1734, died 1780.

(16.) William Leyhorne (by Romney), nephew of
Francis Popham (No. 13), and brother of General
Leyborne Popham. If the inscription, that he died
in 1790 at the age of 17, is correct, he was General
Leyborne-Popham's younger brother.

( 17. ) Miss Leyhorne ( copy of a portrait by
Romney), sister of No. 16.

80 LITTLECOTE

Th* Hcuee. There are also :—

A portrait of George^ Lord Cobham; attributed
to Holbein.

7 A portrait, by Olouet, of Gahrielle de Bourbon,
\ daughter of Louis de Bourbon, Due de Montpensier,
Land wife of Louis IL, Prince de la Tremoille.

A portrait labelled " Edward FJ., after Holbein."
In Arehceologia, xxxix. 272, it is shown that "John
Holbein, servant to the Bang's Majesty," died in
1543; hence it follows that Edward YI. could not
have been painted by him after the age of 6.

This is probably a portrait of Thomas Howard,
Earl of Surrey, by Guillim Stretes. Compare the
picture at Hampton Court.

A portrait of Nell Gwyn, by Yerelst. Verelst was
a flower painter, but, though his portraits were in-
ferior to his pictures of flowers, he became the fashion,
and injured Lely. Walpole says that he was paid
llOZ. for a half-length.

Two portraits (William III., and Queen Mary),
by Sir Godfrey Kjieller.
tX-w-t / picture of St. Cecilia, by Dominichino.

XifJ- p A portrait of a man, with a green background, by

i>siU^ Clouet.

Conservatory.

The Conservatory, seen out of the drawing-room,
was built (probably as an orangery) presumably about
1809.

LITTLECOTE

The House.

LiBEABY.

In the Library the chief objects of interest are
some old law books, annotated in the handwriting
of Chief Justice Popham.

The Dutch Parlour.

The Dutch Parlour is interesting on account of
the paintings on the walls, which are said to have
been done by a Dutch Officer and other prisoners,
who were confined at Littlecote during the Common-
wealth.

In Money's History of Newbury^ we are told that
"In the course of the Dutch war, in which the
Admirals Yan Tromp, De Ruyter, and De Witt were
met by the Commonwealth leaders Blake, Deane,
Monk, and Popham, a number of prisoners were
taken and dispatched to various provincial towns.
One hundred were sent to Newbury in April, 1653,
and in the following November, John Birch, the
Mayor, petitioned Parliament that the town might
either be paid for the keep of the Dutchmen, or have
them removed, as the inhabitants were sorely dis-
tressed by this extra burden being laid upon them."

It has been suggested that some of these prisoners
were thereupon sent to Littlecote, and that the pic-

LITTLECOTE

tures on the walls of this Dutch Parlour (repre-
senting scenes from Don Quixote and JSudihras) were
painted by them.

This may be true of the scenes from Don Quixote,
which was published between 1605 and 1615 ; but the
first part of Butler's Hndihras was not published
till 1663, and the last part in 1678, some years after
the date of the Dutch prisoners mentioned above
being sent to Newbury.

There is certainly a strong tradition that the pic-
tures on these walls were painted by Dutch prisoners
who were confined at Littlecote, so the probability is
that they were prisoners taken in one of the naval
battles in Charles II.'s reign, either off Harwich in
1665, or at the mouth of the Thames in 1666, or off
the coast of Holland in 1673.

In the accounts of the Constable of Hungerford in
1667 is the following entry, " Pd. 13 prisoners which
came out of Holland 3^?."

It is quite possible that these may have been the
Dutch prisoners who came to Littlecote.

Brigk Hall.

The Brick Hall has a rough tiled floor, excellent
old panelling, and overmantel, and is hung with old
armour (mostly German).

LITTLECOTE

The House.

Chapel.

The Chapel, which is an interesting example of
ecclesiastical arrangements during the seventeenth
century, has its pulpit — as is the case in all Presby-
terian places of worship — in the place of the altar.
There are very few private chapels in England
arranged in this manner.

August 4th, 1661. Philip, 4th Lord Wharton,
married, at Littlecote, Anne, daughter of WiUiam
Carr, and widow of Edward Popham (who had been
buried in Westminster Abbey, 1651).

"Anno Domini 1685. John, Lord SheflSeld, 3rd
Earl of Mulgrave, Lord Chamberlayne of His Ma'ties
houshold and Ursula Countess of Conway were
married in Littlecott Chapell, March ye eighteenth."

Lord Mulgrave was created by William III., in
1694, Marquess of Normanby, and by Queen Anne,
in 1703, Duke of Normanby, and, a fortnight after-
wards, Duke of the County of Buckingham.

Ursula, daughter of Colonel Stawel, was the widow
of the 1st Earl of Conway (the son of Edward, 2nd
Viscount Conway, and of his wife Frances, daughter
of Sir Francis Popham, Kt. of Littlecote).

84 LITTLECOTE

The H<Mse.

William of Oea^^ge's Rooms.

Over the mantelpiece in the bedroom, which was
occupied by William during his stay at Littlecote, is a
large piece of tapestry, displaying his arms ; over the
doors are his portrait, and that of Mary, engraved by
Pieter van Gunst, after Brandon ; and there hangs in
the room a long sampler, with figures and raised roses
in relief, in which is worked the following inscription : —
" The Prince of Orang landed in the west of England
on the 5 of November 1688 and on the 11 of April
1689 was crowned King of England and in the year
1692 the French came to invade England and a fleet
of ships sent by King William and drove them from
the English seas and took sunk and burnt 21 of their
ships. March the 26 1693, Martha Wright."

The wardrobe should be noted as having probably
been made out of an old bed.

In the adjacent dressing-room is an old English
four-poster, and a large piece of Flemish tapestry,
after Teniers.

William of Orange, on his advance from Salisbury
to London, retired, after a conference with James's
Commissioners at the Bear Inn, at Hungerford, to
Littlecote, December 8th, 1688, where the following
day, Sunday, December 9th, the Commissioners dined.

LITTLECOTE

As Macaulay tells us, a splendid assemblage had TheHcmse.
been inAdted to meet them. The old hall was crowded
with peers and generals. Halifax, Burnet, Notting-
ham, Godolphin, Shrewsbury, and Oxford were among
those who sat round the old table, and feasted, in-
trigued, listened, or dallied with the crisis. In such
a throng a short question and answer might be ex-
changed without attracting notice. Halifax seized
this opportunity, the first which presented itself, of
extracting all that Burnet knew or thought.

"What is it that you want?" said the dexterous
diplomatist. " Do you wish to get the King into your
power ? "

"Not at all," said Burnet, "we would not do the
least harm to his person."

" And if he went away ? " said Halifax.

" There is nothing," said Burnet, apprehending his
meaning, " so much to be wished."

James's Commissioners retired without having
come to any settlement ; and very soon the King fled.

On the 10th, William arrived at Newbury, and, on
the following day, marched with the chief part of his
Dutch troops and adherents, from Newbury towards
Abingdon. The route taken was through the villages
of Farnborough and West Ilsley, along the " Golden
Mile " to Hendred, and thence to Milton House, where
William slept, the troops being quartered in the neigh-
bourhood.

86 LITTLECOTE

Macaulay gives the following picturesque descrip-
tion of the appearance of the Dutch and other troops
composing the martial pageant which accompanied
William : —

" First rode Macclesfield at the head of two hun-
dred gentlemen, mostly of English blood, glittering
in helmets and cuirasses, and mounted on Flemish
war-horses. Each was attended by a negro, brought
from the sugar plantations on the coast of Guiana.
. . . . Then, with drawn broadswords, came a squadron
of Swedish horsemen in black armour and fur cloaks.
They were regarded with a strange interest, for it was
rumoured that they were natives of a land where the
ocean was frozen, and where the night lasted through
half the year, and that they had themselves slain the
huge bears whose skins they wore. Next, surrounded
by a goodly company of gentlemen and pages was
borne aloft the Prince's banner. On its folds the
crowd which covered the roofs and filled the
windows read with delight that memorable inscrip-
tion, ' The Protestant Keligion and the liberties of
England.'

"But the acclamations redoubled when, attended
by forty running footmen, the Prince himself appeared,
armed on back and breast, wearing a white plume and
mounted on a white charger. . . . Near to the Prince

LITTLECOTE

was one who divided with him the gaze of the multi-
tude, . . . the great Count Schomberg, the first soldier
in Europe, since Turenne and Conde were gone. . . .
Then came a long column of the whiskered infantry
of Switzerland, distinguished in all the Continental
wars of two centuries by pre-eminent valour and
discipline, but never till that week seen on English
ground. And then marched a succession of bands
designated, as was the fashion of that age, after their
leaders, Bentinck, Solmes, and Ginkell, Talmash, and
Mackay. . . . Kor did the wonder of the population
diminish when the artillery arrived, twenty-one huge
pieces of brass cannon, which were with difficulty
tugged along by sixteen cart-horses to each."

The following extracts, from the accounts of the
Constables of Hungerford in the year 1688, afford
interesting evidence of the disturbed condition of the
neighbourhood at this time : —

Gave y^ ringers when y^ prince of Denmark

came by to Bath 00 01 00

(This was the husband of the Princess
Anne, daughter of James II., after-
wards Queen of England.)
Gave ffarmer Lovelook y^ high Constable for

Aminicion money 00 12 9

88 LITTLECOTE

The Home, (jave ringers when princess of Denmark

came back from Bath . . . . 00 01 00

Pd. to Robert Rabnett and Mick Butler
to guide souldiers to Ramsbury and
see when they were coming . . 00 03 00

Pd. Stephen Hellier and Will Rosier the

train souldiers 02 00 00

Pd. Edward Lucas he spent at y^ Globe

with y" souldiers 00 01 00

Pd. charge about souldiers . . . . 00 02 00

Pd. John Stanton for journies about y^

souldiers . 00 01 00

Pd. Robert Rabnett for going to Newbery

about y^ souldiers 00 02 00

Pd. him for' going to Shefford . . . 00 01 00

Pd. him for bringing back horses . . 00 00 09

Pd. Robt. Coxhead for going to Newbery,
Lambourn, and Faringdon to carry war-
rants and fetch more pressed horses . 00 03 00

Pd. Anthony Trayhorne for fetching back

pressed horses and charges . . . 00 05 10

Pd. William Clyford for a guid . . . 00 01 00

Pd. him to goe to Newbery for a guid to

souldiers 00 02 6

Pd. Robert Ely for fetching back a horse

beyond Reading 00 03 02

Pd. John Barnett for fetching back 2 pressed

horses from Newbery . . . . 00 02 00

LITTLECOTE 89

Pd. John Standen to go to Chilton in Vale

for a guid 00 01 06

Pd. a guid to Avinton 00 00 06

Pd. John Coxhead for bringing back

pressed horses 00 02 00

Pd. Nich' Burche for fire for the guards . 01 05 00
Pd. Thomas Robinson ffbr 40 ffaggotts for
Watchmen when y^ report was y^ Irish

were coming 00 05 00

(A false report had been circulated
that the disbanded Irish soldiers
were approaching London, firing
the houses, putting men, women,
and children to the sword, and
that no Protestant would find
mercy. This was a scare, long
remembered as the " Irish Night.")

Pd. Edward Noyes for 8 ffaggotts

Spent with the souldiers ....

Pd. Will. Coxhead for a guide to Hamstead

and fetchin Armes from Littlecot and

(The Prince of Orange went from

Hungerford to see Lord Craven's
new house at Hampstead, near
Kintbury.)

90 LITTLECOTE

Th^ House. P(j. y> ringars when King was proclaimed 00 04 00
Pd. John Garlick for candles for y° guids
when Douglas reg q'tered in Town for
1 dozen and a halfe at 4/4 per doz. . 00 06 06
Pd. Will. Rosier for 6 Bandaleers bought

at Newbery . . . . . . 00 02 00

(These were little wooden cases to
contain a charge of powder, to be
hung on the shoulder belt, also
called a bandoleer.)

Ajtte-Chapel Chamber.

In the Ante-Chapel Chamber is a curious and
excellent piece of needlework, representing a large
Roman tessellated pavement, which — discovered in
1728 by Mr. George, the Littlecote steward — was
unearthed two years later. The pavement measured
41 feet in length by 33 feet in breadth, and seems
to have formed the floor of a temple. It was com-
pletely broken up soon after it was brought to light.
The inscription on the needlework, made by the widow
of Mr. George, tells us that the pavement was " sup-
posed to be laid in the reign of Vespasian the Roman
Emperor (there being several urns with his coins
deposited in the waU)." It represented, among other

LITTLECOTE

devices, ApoUo in the centre, and female figures riding '^^ House.
on animals emblematic of the four seasons.

"This curious piece of antiquity has been since
destroyed, but Mr. George made an exact draught of
it on several sheets of paper, in which all the parts
and figures were expressed in their proper colours.
From this drawing his widow afterwards made a
beautiful carpet in needle-work, reduced to the size of
near one inch to a foot of the original.

" Mrs. George setting up a boarding-school for
young ladies after the death of her husband, employed
some years in working this noble carpet, which she
carried to Andover on removing from that place, and
afterwards presented it to her benefactor, Mr. Popham,
who got it engraved by Yertue." — Archceologia, 1787,
Vol. VIII., page 98.

On the west waU of the Ante-Chapel Chamber
is an interesting picture, painted in tempera, and
described by Dr. Waagen, in his " Treasures of Art in k") Kf ^
Great Britain," in 1854, as belonging to the "School * ^^^->-~«^

of Romagna," and proving "the influence of CriveUi i-nWXu.
in this part of the country."

" Nicola di Ancona. — The Virgin adoring the Child
lying on her lap, while the Child is blessing the spec-
tator. On the right St. Jerome pointing to the
lion growling at the thorn in his paw, and another
saint unknown to me [St. Leonard] ; on the left St.
John the Baptist and St. Francis. A feeling of pure

92 LITTLECOTE

Th4ffouae. (Jevotion pervades the heads. The execution in the
brownish flesh-tones is of admirable body. In the
landscape and other portions the influence of Oosimo
Tura, of Ferrara, is unmistakable. The upper portion
has a gold ground. This hitherto almost unknown
master has inscribed his work 'Opus Nicolai Mi
Antonii de Ancona MCCOCLXXII.'

" Colucci informs us that this picture, together with
a lunette by Crivelli, was presented by the town of
S. Fermo, to the little village of Porto S. Georgio on
the Adriatic."

Colucci, an antiquarian writer, lived at Fermo, in
Romagna, about the middle and end of the 18th
century.

There are also hung here a lunette in the school
of Crivelli ; a triptych by Bernard van Orley ; a
picture of Our Lord and the woman of Samaria,
(f^y^w.-, , ascribed to Dosso Dossi; a Flemish picture of St.

' Veronica ; a Madonna and Child, ascribed to Lorenzo

^ di Credi (compare the picture in the National Gallery);
^^^^bl*^ ^ ^ picture (probably Spanish) of the head of Our

'^^^'^■'^^ Lord and an Angel.

Close by is a mirror with a needlework frame of
the time of Charles II., illustrating subjects from the
Old Testament.

LITTLECOTE

The House.

Darrell Chamber.

This chamber, and the fire-place in the adjacent
Ante-Chapel Chamber, are said to have been the
scenes of a crime which tradition has associated with
Littlecote and "Wild" Darrell. See "The Littlecote
Legend," page 43.

Chief Justice Popham — who had good opportunities
of knowing the truth of the story — put up the over-
mantle in this room, which displays the shield of arms
of his daughter Elizabeth, and of her husband. Sir
Richard Champernoun.

New Chamber.
In New Chamber there is a very fine old bedstead.

On leaving New Chamber a fine piece of fifteenth
century Flemish tapestry should be noticed hanging
on the staircase which leads up to Queen Elizabeth's
Chamber. It was the custom for cartoons to be de-
signed by well-known painters, which were copied in
tapestry by the tapestry weavers, and several copies of
the same subject were often made.

B 2

94 LITTLECOTE

This piece of tapestry, which has been for a
long time in England, is — with one or two trifling
variations — similar to, and copied from the same
cartoon as, the piece of tapestry, formerly in a
celebrated collection in Paris, which has been thus
described by M. Eugene Miintz (Gonservateur des
Collections de I'Ecole National des Beaux-arts); "Dans
une troisieme tenture, le Repos pendant la fuite en
Egypte, il n'y a de place que pour I'eblouissement.
Rien ne saurait rendre la splendeur de cette gamme,
ou For alterne avec la cramoisi, la richesse de ce
paysage dans lequel I'auteur, un Flamand pur sang, a
accumule les notes les plus joyeuses, les motifs les
plus pittoresques. Quel adorable tableau que celui de
cette jeune mere serrant contre son coeur son fils,
devant l^quel son p^re nomTicier s'incline avec une
admiration touchante, en lui presentant une poire,
tandis que dans les branches de I'arbre, au pied duquel
repose la famiUe divine, les anges remplissent les airs
de concerts celestes ! Des details aussi naifs que
touchants compl^tent cette scene, qui serait admirable
de tout point, n'etait la laideur de I'enfant Jesus : Pane
broute tranquillement a cote de I'arbre ; des canards
folatrent dans la source qui prend naissance au milieu
des iris et des muriers sauvages ; les plantes les plus
brillantes surgissent de tous cotes comme par en-
chantement ; h cote de fraisiers en fleurs, on en voit
d'autres qui sont charges de fruits, et dont la note

LITTLECOTE

d'un rouge vif se marie a merveille aux tons verts
dores d'une vegetation luxuriante. Le fond du tableau
est traite avec autant d'amour et de poesie ; des habi-
tation riantes y alternent avec des rochers escarpes :
ici, des champs de ble dans lesquels un moissoneur
s'incline respectueusement devant les soldats envoyes
a la poursuite des fugitifs ; ailleurs, une riviere formant
d'innombrables replis jusqu'a I'endroit ou elle se perd
dans les brumes de I'horizon."

Queen Elizabeth's Chamber.

Queen Elizabeth's Chamber is so-called from her
arms, which are over the mantelpiece, and are believed
to have been put up in anticipation, or in commemor-
ation, of her visit to Chief Justice Popham.

It may be interesting to note here the royal
visitors who have been entertained at Littlecote : —

1520. August 18th. Henry VIII.

" The King again made progress into Berkshire in
August, 1520, .... and on Saturday the 18th, lodged
at * Mr. Darell's place,' at Littlecote." — Money's
History of Newbury.

1601. August. Queen Elizabeth.

"Mr. John Chamberlain to Sir Dudley Carleton,

96 LITTLECOTE

House. 1601. On the 13th of August, the Queen came to
Windsor, and is expected shortly at Mr. Comptroller's,
at Causham. And so the Progress should hold as far
as Littlecot, a house of the Lord Chief Justice, in
Wiltshire. But there be so many endeavours to
hinder it, that I will lay no great wagers of the pro-
ceeding." — Mchols's Progresses of Queen Elizaheth.

1603. September 5th and 6th. James I. and Anne
of Denmark.

" From the 1st to the 4th of September the King
and Queen were entertained at Tottenham Park, the
mansion of the Earl of Hertford ; and on the 5th
and 6th they were the guests of Lord Chief Justice
Popham, at Littlecote." — Nichols's Progresses of
James I.

1613. September. Anne of Denmark.

" Queen Anne of Denmark was also at Newbury
in 1613, while on a progress from Oatlands to Lord
Hertford's, at Marlborough : on September 2nd halt-
ing at Burghfield, and the next day at Aldermaston
House; on the 4th Her Majesty dined with Sir
Nicholas Fuller, at Chamberhouse Castle, Cookham,

in the parish of Thatcham The same night she

slept at Mr. Dolman's, at Shaw, where the Court re-
mained over Sunday. On the Monday following the
Queen dined at Mr. Choke's at Avington, and thence
proceeded to Sir Francis Popham's, at Littlecote,

LITTLECOTE

where she stayed two days, and then left for Marl- The House.
borough." — Money's History of Newhury,

1663. August. Charles II. (and Katharine of
Braganza ? ).

"The King and Queen are very weU and much
pleased with their journey. The King has taken very
few servants along with him ; not any ofi&cer, nor any
table, but his own, the Queen's, and my lady Suffolk's.
His Majesty has been very much feasted by Colonel
Popham and my Lord Seymom\" — Countess Dowager
of Devonshire to Lord Bruce. September 1st, 1663.
Ailesbury MSS.

1663. September 21st. The Duke of York (after-
wards James II.)

" Pd. the ringers ffor ringinge when the Duke of
Yorke passed through the Towne and lodged that
night at Littlecott." — Hungerford Churchwardens'
accounts, 1663.

1688. December 8th and 9th. WiUiam, Prince of
Orange.

"WiUiam, on his advance from Salisbmy to
London, retired, after conference with James's Com-
missioners at Hungerford, to Littlecote, December 8th,
where the following day, Sunday, December 9th, the
Commissioners dined." — Macaulay's History of Eng-
land, Vol. II., Chapter IX.

C 2

LITTLECOTE

The House.

.'J

Staircase.

The Staircase, leading up to the Dormitory, is
made of solid blocks of oak, each forming a step ; and
the Dormitory, over the Long Gallery and over the
room adjoining, is said to have been the quarters of
the Littlecote garrison during the civil wars in the
time of Charles I.

The Long Gallery.

The Long Gallery, which is about 110 feet long,
occupies a large part of the north side of the house on
this floor. The panelling runs all round the gallery,
and the plaster frieze above it is especially interesting,
for it dates from pre-Popham times, and displays the
Darrell lion, rampant armed langued and crowned.
A close examination of the frieze reveals the letters
W D, one on each side of the small lions in low relief;
in one or two places distinct, but in others almost, or
wholly, obliterated. Presumably they have been
scraped off, and were the initials of William, or
"Wild," Darrell. The ceiling is new, and takes the
place of a ceiling that was probably put up in the
early part of the nineteenth century.

LITTLECOTE

There is extant an inventory made in 1735, at the
death of Francis Popham, of the contents of the
house. It is headed as follows: —

" A true and perfect Inventory of all and singular
the Goods Chatties and Credits of Francis Popham
late of Littlecote in the county of Wilts Esqr
Deceased which were at the time of his death at
Littlecote aforesaid as they were taken Valued and
Appraized on the Eighth Day of October in the Year
of our Lord One thousand Seven Hundred and
thirty five by Lawrence Andrews and Thomas Baron
as follows (to wit)."

In this inventory what is now known as the Long
GaUery was called " The Long Matted Gallery," and
contained,

" Item thirty Pictures Forty two chairs with Workt
Backs and Seats and Covers — To Ditto One India
Chest, a Walnuttree Cabinet Two old Tables Two
Carpetts Three Couches and Squabbs and PiUows a
Settee and Two Chusions Covered with Silver Silk.
A pair of Doggs and Fender and the Floor Matting."

All these items were valued at 44Z. 14s. 6d.

There are here many portraits of the Popham,
and Leyborne-Popham, families, and it may be noted

100

LITTLECOTE

that, of the many members of these families who
have owned Littlecote, from the time of the Chief
Justice to the present day, only a few are not repre-
sented by their portraits in this house.

There are in the Long Gallery portraits of —

(1.) Chief Justice Popham, Born 1531. Died 1607.

(2.) Lady Pojyham. Wife of the Chief Justice ;
daughter of Robert Games, of Castleton, Co. Gla-
morgan.

(3.) Anne Dudley (after A. Hilliard). Born 24
February, 1574/5, daughter and heiress of John
Dudley, of Stoke Newington, who was the son of
Thomas Dudley, who was the son of Edward, Lord
Dudley, by his second wife. Anne Dudley mar-
ried Sir Francis Popham, Kt., of Littlecote (who
was one of the Knights made before Cadiz by the
Earl of Essex in 1596; M.P. for Great Bedwyn in
1620, and for Chippenham in 1635, and died 1646),
the son and heir of Chief Justice Popham; and the
portraits of three of their sons, Alexander, Edward,
and Hugh, are in this gallery.

One of their daughters, Frances, married, about
October, 1621, Edward, 2nd Baron (and afterwards
2nd Viscount) Conway. She died June, 1671, aged 74,
having survived her husband 16 years.

Aubrey says of John (the eldest son of Sir Francis

LITTLECOTE

101

Popham, Kt.), who died in his father's lifetime, 1637, Th^sou^e.
and married Mary, daughter of Sir Sebastian Harvey,
Lord Mayor of London in 1618 : —

" He was the greatest howse-keeper in England :
would have at Littlecote 4 or 5 or more lords at a
time. His wife (Harvey) was worth to him, I thinke,
60000 li., and she was as vaine as he, and she sayed
that she had brought such an estate, and she scorned
but she would live as high as he did; and in her
husband's absence would have all the woemen of the
countrey thither, and feast them, and make them
drunke, as she would be herself. They both dyed by
excesse ; but by luxury and cosonage by their servants,
when he dyed, there was, I thinke, a hundred thousand
pound debt.

" Old Sir Francis, he lived like a hog at Hownstret
in Somerset, all this while with a moderate pittance.

"Mr. John would say that his wive's estate was
ill gott, and that was the reason they prospered no
better: she would say that the old judge gott the
estate unjustly, and thus they would twitt one another,
and that with matter of truth."

(4.) Portraits of —

(a.) Colonel Alexander Popham^ second son and
heir of Sir Francis Popham, Kt.

D 2

102 LITTLECOTE

This is the same Colonel Alexander Popham, of
Littlecote, whose equestrian portrait (No. 4a) is in
the Great Hall. He was M.P. for Minehead, Bath,
and Somersetshire successively ; a Commissioner for
Martial Law in 1644 ; one of the Council of State in
1650, a member of Cromwell's Upper House; in the
Council of State in 1659-60 ; and, in the former year,
one of the Army Committee.

At the Restoration he not only made his peace, but
was much in favour, with Charles II., who visited him
at Littlecote in 1663.

His first wife was Dorothy, daughter of Richard
Cole, of Nailsea Court, Esq., whom he married at
Nailsea, Co. Somerset, 29 October, 1635. She died
2 April, 1643, and was bm'ied at the Mayor's Chapel,
St. Mark's, Bristol. She had one son, who was buried
1642.

His second wife, Letitia Carr, sister of Anne (the
wife of his brother Edward), was buried at Stoke
Newington, 27 April, 1660.

He died in 1669, and was buried at Chilton Foliat.
In his will he gives loving admonition to his children,
and adds, " copies of my will to be sent to them, and
they are to read it over once a month."

He was succeeded by his son, Francis Popham,
who was created a Knight of the Bath at the corona-
tion of Charles II., and died 28 August, 1674.

There is an interesting entry in the accounts of the

LITTLECOTE

103

Constable of Hungerford in the year 1673, referring to
this Sir Francis Popham : " Pd. to Joseph Mackerill
for carriage of Sr. ffrancis Popham foole to Littlecot
— 2s. ; " a late instance of a professional " fool," or
jester, being attached to a private household.

(b.) Letifm, his second wife, daughter of William
Carr, of Linton and Sunlaws (Groom of the Bed-
chamber to James I. and Charles I.), and of their
three daughters,

(o.) Essex^ who married, as his first wife, John,
3rd Lord Poulett, of Hinton St. George, and was, by
him, mother of two daughters, Catherine, who married
William, Lord Lempster ; and Letitia, who married Sir
William Monson, Bart., of Broxbourne, Co. Hertford.

(d.) Letitia^ who married (as his second wife) Sir
Edward Seymour, 4th Bart., of Berry Pomeroy, and
was, by him, mother of Popham Seymour (see Ko. 5).
This Sir Edward Seymour was " the head of a strong
Parliamentary connection called the Western Alliance,
the leader of the Protestant Tories in the House of
Commons," and, according to Macaulay, " one of the
most skilful debaters and men of business in the
Kingdom." He was unanimously elected Speaker in
1673, and had the credit of being the first country
gentleman who was ever called to the chair, till then
invariably occupied by a lawyer.

At the Revolution he went to meet the Prince
of Orange at Exeter, and William, intending to be

104

LITTLECOTE

very civil, received Mm with the words, " I think. Sir
Edward, that you are of the family of the Duke of
Somerset." Seymour, one of the proudest of men,
instantly corrected him. " Pardon me, Sir," he said,
"the Duke of Somerset is of my family."

This pride of place as the head of the house never
forsook him. When Queen Anne, of whose household
he was the Comptroller, offered him a peerage in 1703,
he would accept it only for his younger son, Francis
(created Lord Conway, ancestor of the Marquess of
Hertford), preferring for the elder son the slender
chance — then apparently remote — of succeeding to his
ancestral dukedom. Yet within fifty years this im-
probable event had come to pass, and the title devolved
upon his grandson, the 6th Sir Edward Seymour,
Bart., of Berry Pomeroy, who thus became 8th Duke
of Somerset, and whose mother was Letitia, only
daughter of Sir Francis Popham, K.B., of Littlecote.
(See 8a. in the drawing-room, page 79.) This Sir
Edward Seymour, 4th Bart., was the great-great-
great-great-great-grandson of Sir George Darrell,
of Littlecote.

(e.) Anne, who married William Ashe, of Heyts-
bury, Wilts : and was, by him, mother of Letitia, who
married Thomas Penruddocke, of Compton.

(4b.) Colonel Alexcmder Popham, by Cooper.

(4c.) Portrait of a lady. Possibly the first wife,
Dorothy Cole, of Colonel Alexander Popham.

LITTLECOTE

105

(5.) Mr. PopJiam Seymour^ known as "Beau" The House.
Seymour, son of Sir Edward Seymour, 4tli Bart.,
of Berry Pomeroy, and of his second wife, Letitia
Popham, daughter of Colonel Alexander Popham.
He succeeded to the Conway estates, under the will
of his cousin Edward, Earl of Conway, and assumed,
in consequence, the name of Conway. He died un-
married, in his twenty-fourth year, from a wound
received in a duel with Colonel Kirk, in 1699.

(6.) Hugh Popham (by Beall), fourth son of Sir
Francis Popham, Kt., killed at Sherborne, during the
Civil Wars.

Mrs. Mary Beale was an artist who copied success-
fully the works of Van Dyck and Lely, and is supposed
to have studied for a time under Robert Walker. She
painted many of the clergy of her day (1632-1697), and
her charges were 5?. for a head, and 10?. for a half-length.
Her husband was also a painter, but of no celebrity.

(7.) Portraits of —

(a.) Edward Popham^ fifth son of Sir Francis
Popham, Kt., Admiral of the Fleet and Colonel in the
Parliamentary Army during the Civil War. Born
about 1610, he was serving as lieutenant of the
Henrietta Maria, in the fleet of the Earl of North-
umberland, in 1636, and in March, 1637, was promoted
to be a captain of the Fifth Whelp.

E 2

106 LITTLECOTE

The Whelps were by this time old and barely sea-
worthy, and in a fresh breeze off the coast of Holland,
28 June, 1637, this one having sprung a leak, went
down, giving Popham with the ship's company, barely
time to save themselves in the boat. Seventeen men
went down with her.

In the Civil War Edward Popham threw in his lot
with the Parliament, of which his father and his
brother Alexander were members.

In 1642, Edward and his brother Hugh were with
Alexander, then a deputy-lieutenant of Somerset, rais-
ing men for the Parliament.

In June, 1644, both he and Alexander were with
Ludlow and some others detached by Waller into
Somersetshire, in order to raise recruits.

On 11 June, 1645, Edward Popham was desired to
repair to Eomsey, take command of the troops assem-
bling there for the relief of Taunton, and foUow the
orders of Colonel Massey ; and on 17 June, Alex-
ander was directed to command a party of horses to
Romsey, there to receive orders from Edward.

It would seem that at this time Edward was con-
sidered the superior of&cer.

24 October, 1648-9, an Act of Parliament appointed
Popham, Blake, and Deane, commissioners for the
immediate ordering of the Fleet.

1649, Popham commanded in the Downs, and the
North Sea.

LITTLECOTE

107

Early in 1650 he was under orders to join Blake, at
Lisbon, with a strong reinforcement.

An intercepted Royalist letter, of date 20 February,
says, " Blake has gone to sea with fourteen sail. . . .
A second fleet is preparing under Ned Popham. His
brother, Alexander, undertakes to raise one regiment
of horse, one of dragoons, and two of foot in the west;
but good conditions might persuade them both to do
righteous things."

In a letter, dated 27 April, 1650, from Westminster,
by John Milton (Latin Secretary for some time to
Parliament and to Cromwell) to John, King of Por-
tugal, Edward Popham is mentioned as having been
sent out in command of a fleet to the mouth of the
Tagus, the object of which was not to act in any hostile
way to the Portuguese, but to attack pirates, and to
recover property taken by them.

The passage is as follows : —

" Quo facilius a Maj estate Vestra impetraturos
nos esse confidimus, primum ut lUustrissimo Yiro
Odoardo Poppamo, quem huic novae classi praefeci-
mus, quibus potes rebus ad praedatores hosce debel-
landos, adjumento esse veils, utque eos cum duce
suo, non hospites, sed piratas, non mercatores, sed
commercii pestes, jurisque gentium violatores, intra
regni vestri portus, & munimenta diutius consistere

108 LITTLECOTE

ne signas ; sed qua patent Lusitanise fines, terra
marique pelli jubeas:"

Which was thus translated in an English edition,
printed in 1694, of the " Letters of State, written by
Mr. John Milton, To most of the Sovereign Princes
and Republicks of Europe."

"Which is the reason we are in hopes that we
shall more easily obtain from your Majesty; First,
That you will, as far as in you lies, be assistant to
the most Illustrious Edward Popham, whom we have
made Admiral of our New Fleet, for the subduing
those detested Freebooters ; and that you will no
longer suffer 'em together with their Captain, not
Guests, but Pyrates ; not Merchants, but the Pests of
Commerce, and Violaters of the Law of Nations, to
Harbour in the Ports and under the shelter of the
Fortresses of yom' Kingdom ; but that where-ever
the Confines of Portugal extend themselves, you will
Command 'em to be Expell'd as well by Land as
by Sea."

He died of fever at Dover, 19 August, 1651, and
had a public funeral in Westminster Abbey.

1651. August 22. Council of State.

" Lord Commissioner Whitelock, and Sir Harry

LITTLECOTE 109

Vane to go to Mrs. Popham from council and condole House.
with her on the loss of her husband, and to let her
know what a memory they have of his services, and
that they will upon all occasions be ready to shew
respect to his relations."

" Sept: 24 1651. In the evening the funeral of
General Popham was performed at the Abbey, with
very great solemnity. His herse was attended from
Exeter House in the Strand by the Speaker [Lenthal] ,
the Lord General [Cromwell], and many members of
Parliament and Council as it became a person of so
much honom* and integrity."

1651. October 9. Order of Parliament.

"That one year's salary for the year payable to
General Popham deceased be paid to Anne Popham
his widow."

The monument to Edward Popham and to his
wife in Westminster Abbey was, at the Restoration,
ordered to be destroyed ; and Dart relates that, at the
intercession of some of this lady's relations, who had
been serviceable to the Royal Cause, no further dis-
honom' was shown to his memory than by turning
inwards the face of the stone which displayed the
inscription. Dart's story is, however, a myth; for —

F 2

110

LITTLECOTE

though the monument was allowed to remain — the
inscription was defaced.

(b.) Amie Carr (see No. 8), his wife, and sister to
his brother's wife, Letitia.

Also portraits of their two children.

(c.) Letitia, who married Sir John Bauden. She
was baptized in 1646 at Newington, married in 1669,
and died 1703 or 1706.

(d.) Alexander, of Bourton-on-the-Hill, in Glou-
cestershire, who married Brilliana Harley, eldest
daughter of Sir Edward Harley, of Brampton Brian,
Governor of Dunkirk in 1660, and eldest son and heir
of Sir Eobert Harley, K.B., by Brilliana Conway his
wife (who was so chiistened because her father, the
first Lord Conway, was Governor of the Brill in the
Netherlands at the time of her birth). Alexander
Popham was the father of Anne Popham, who married
her second cousin, Francis Popham of Littlecote
(see No. 10).

(8.) Anne (by Sir Peter Lely), daughter of William
Carr.

She married —

1st, Edward Popham (see No. 7), who died 1651, and
2ndly — as his third wife — 4 August, 1661, at Little-
cote, Philip, 4th Lord Wharton, by whom she had a
son, William, who was killed in a duel, Dec. 1699.

LITTLECOTE

111

Her brother, William, married Anne, the elder
daughter of this Philip, 4th Lord Wharton, by his
second wife.

Philip, 4th Lord Wharton, born 8 April, 1613, was
a pronounced Puritan, and took an active part for the
Parliament in the Civil Wars. He was one of those
sent to treat with the Scots at Ripon in 1640, and
was one of the " commanders " in the armies of the
Commonwealth, and was at the battle of Edgehill.
He was Speaker of the House of Lords 27 May, 1642,
and again 26 Feb., 1645, it being voted in Parliament
1 Dec, 1645, " that Lord Wharton be made an Earl."
He was one of the Lay Members of the Westminster
Assembly of Divines, by whom in 1648 " The Shorter
Catechism" was drawn up; and was summoned to
Cromwell's House of Lords 10 Dec, 1657, and 27 Jan.,
1658, to Richard Cromwell's Parliament. At the
Restoration he was one of the cavalcade to escort
the King on his landing. He was imprisoned in
the Tower 16 Feb. to 29 July, 1677, for declaring the
Long Parliament dissolved by its fifteen months'
prorogation. He was one of the first to declare for
William III. When young he is said {Memoirs of
the Marquis of Wharton) to have "had particularly
fine legs, and took great delight to show them in
dancing," but Puritanism was his prevailing charac-
teristic. On July 12, 1692, he conveyed lands in
Yorkshire to trustees "for buying English bibles

112 LITTLECOTE /

and catechisms for poor children and for preaching
sermons ; " the administration of which charity gave
rise to a Chancery suit in 1896. His portrait, by
Van Dyck, is in the Hermitage. Anne, his third
wife, died " a few miles out of town " on the 13th
Aug., 1692, at Woobm'n. He died at Hampstead, and
was buried 12 Feb., 1695/6, at Wooburn, in his 83rd
year.

(9.) Lady Anne Montagu (by Kneller, 1689),
daughter of Ralph, 1st Duke of Montagu.

She married —

1st, Alexander Popham, of Littlecote (see No. 9a,
on the Front Staircase), who died 16 June, 1705, son
and heir of Sir Francis Popham, K.B., and was, by
him, mother of a daughter, Elizabeth.

2nd, in 1707, Lieut.-General D. Harvey, who was
Governor of Guernsey in 1715.

(10.) Alexander Popham^ 3I.F., of Littlecote and
Houndstrete, who succeeded in 1705, his ne]3hew,
Alexander Popham (only son of Sir Francis Popham,
K.B., see No. 9). He married Jane French, and was
succeeded by his son, Francis Popham, who married
(see No. 7) his kinswoman, Anne, daughter of Alex-
ander Popham, of Bourton-on-the-Hill. Francis
Popham died in 1735, aged 52, and was bm'ied at
Chilton Foliat. It was at his death that the inventory
mentioned above was taken.

LITTLECOTE

113

(11.) Edward Popham^ M.P. (by Gainsborough), ThsHou»e.
son of Francis and Anne Popham (see No. 10). Mar-
ried Eebecca Huddon, died 1772, and was succeeded
by his son, Francis Popham, the last of the Pophams
of Littlecote, whose portrait is No. 13 in the drawing-
room.

(12.) Mrs. Httddon, mother of Rebecca Huddon,
who married Edward Popham, M.P. (see No. 11).

(14.) Portrait labelled " Anne Popham, afterwards
Mrs. Leyborne Popham, Gainsborough." If this is —
as it is believed to be — the portrait of Anne Popham,
the daughter of Edward Popham, M.P. (No. 11), and
the wife of William Leyborne Leyborne, then it is
incorrectly labelled "afterwards Mrs. Leyborne Pop-
ham " ; for her husband — though he changed his
name in 1751 from Taylor to Leyborne — died in
1775, while he was Governor of Granada, under
the name of Leyborne; and it has never been
even suggested that his widow changed her name
back again to Popham in her old age ; moreover,
her son, Edward William Leyborne, who was born
in 1764, did not assume the name of Popham
till 1804, when he succeeded to the Popham
estates.

In Fulcher's Life of Gainsborough, two three-
quarter-length Popham portraits — mentioned as hav-
ing been painted, apparently at the same time, by that
artist, under the heading, " Miscellaneous Portraits by

G 2

114

LITTLECOTE

Gainsborough " — are called — " Popham, Esq.," and
"Mrs, Popham."

There is, therefore, a strong probability that —
presuming these two pictures, Nos. 11 and 14, to be
the two pictures mentioned by Fulcher, and presuming
No. 11 to be correctly named as the portrait of Edward
Popham, M.P., who died in 1772 — this portrait (No. 14)
was painted before 1772.

But Fulcher says that Gainsborough painted "Mrs.
Popham " ; not " Miss Popham," or " Mrs. Leyborne,"
or " Mrs. Leyborne Popham " ; and if he is correct,
and if this is the picture to which he refers, then it is
just possible that it may be the portrait either of
Rebecca Huddon, the wife of Edward Popham, M.P.,
or of Dorothy Hutton, the wife of Francis Popham.

What is certain is that it cannot be the portrait of
any one who was "afterwards Mrs. Leyborne Popham."

The probability is that the description painted on
the pictm'e and Fulcher's description are both incor-
rect, and that the pictm'e really is the portrait of the
daughter of Edward Popham, M.P., Anne Popham,
who afterwards became Mrs. Leyborne.

The omission to write the names of the sitters on
their portraits, at the time of their being painted,
is a very old som^ce of confusion.

Evelyn wi^ote to Pepys (12 Aug., 1689), "Our
painters take no care to transmit to posterity the
names of the persons they represent"; and Locke,

LITTLECOTE

115

writing to Collins, says, "Pray get Sir Godfrey to
write on the back of my lady Masham's picture
*Lady Masham,' and on the back of mine 'John
Locke.' This he did to Mr. Molyneux; it is neces-
sary to be done, or else the pictm^es of private persons
are lost in two or three generations."

(15.) William Leyborne Leyborne, son of the Rev.
Edward Taylor, Lord of the Manor of Mortlake, and
of his wife Anne, daughter of Anthony Leyborne.

He assumed, by Act of Parliament in 1751, the
surname and arms of Leyborne only. He married
Anne (see No. 14), daughter of Edward Popham, M.P.
(see No. 11), was Governor of Granada, Dominica,
St. Vincent, and Tobago ; and died at St. Vincent,
April, 1775, where he was bm^ied.

(18.) Edward William Leyborne Popham^ son of
William Leyborne Leyborne (see No. 15), and of his
wife Anne Popham (see No. 14).

Born 27 June, 1764, he succeeded (as Colonel
Leyborne, and while quartered at Athlone in Ireland)
under the will of Dorothy Popham, his mother's
sister-in-law, in September, 1804, to the Popham
estates ; his mother's eldest brother, Francis Popham,
of Littlecote and Huntstrete (see No. 13), having died
in 1780, whose widow, Dorothy, died in 1797.

He assumed, by Royal License dated 22 Dec, 1804,
the surname and arms of Popham in addition, and
married, at St. Sidwell's, Exeter, 22 July, 1806,

116

LITTLECOTE

Elizabeth, daughter of the Yen. Archdeacon Andrew,
Rector of Powderham, Devon, by Isabella his wife,
daughter of Sir William Courtenay, and sister of the
first Viscount Courtenay.

He was High Sheriff in 1830, and made a General
in 1837.

He died in 1843, his wife having predeceased him
in 1836.

He was succeeded by his eldest son, Edward
William Leyborne Popham (born 1807, died s. p. 1881),
who was succeeded by his nephew, Francis William
Leyborne Popham, the second son of Francis Ley-
borne Popham, and the present owner of Littlecote.

There are also portraits of —

3Iiss Letitia Popham. This may possibly be either
Letitia, the daughter of Colonel Alexander Popham,
who married Sir Edward Seymom*, 4th Bart., of Berry
Pomeroy ; or her first cousin Letitia, the daughter of
Admiral Edward Popham, who married, in 1669, Sir
John Bawden.

Mrs. Popham^ by Sir Peter Lely. Lely came to
England in 1641, on the death of Van Dyck, and
remained here till his death in 1680.

Is this " Mrs. Popham ? "—

(a) Dorothy Cole, who died in 1643, the first wife
of Colonel Alexander Popham ; or

(&) Letitia Carr, the second wife of Colonel Alex-

LITTLECOTE

117

ander Popham (probably not. Compare her portrait
in No. 4) ; or

{d) Mary, the daughter of Sir Sebastian Harvey,
who married John, the elder brother of Alexander
and Edward Popham (see No. 3) ?

Supposing that she was 18 years old on her mar-
riage in 1618, she would have been 41 years old when
Lely landed in England.

It is just possible, by one year — for Lely died in
1680 — but hardly probable, that it may be {e) Brilliana
Harley, who married in 1679 Alexander Popham, of
Bourton-on-the-Hill (see No. 7), but she could not have
been more than 24 years old on her marriage.

The Spanish Lady^ aged 15, 1623, who — as the story
goes — at a raid on some Spanish town by the English,
was given into the custody of one of the Pophams.
The order came to set the ladies free and unransomed :
she was loth to leave, and would have followed
Popham back to England. She offers him her jewels
and gold if only he will take her to England. At
last he blurts out, in the words of the old ballad —

" I in England have akeady
A sweet woman to my wife :
I will not falsify my vow for gain,
Nor for all the fairest dames that live in Spain."

118 LITTLECOTE
To which she replies : —

" Oh how happy is that woman
That enjoys so trve a friend :
Many happy days God send her :

Of my suit I make an end :
On my knees I pardon crave for my offence,
Which from love and true affection did com-
mence."

Portrait labelled Sir George Harrington.

No " George Harrington " appears to have been
either a Baronet or a Knight. However, " George
Harrington, 3rd son of Sir John Harrington, Kt.,
and of Mary, daughter of Sir George Rogers, of Can-
nington, Somerset, married Mary Combes," and died
in 1665 ; and Katharine Popham, who died 1637, sister
of Sir Francis Popham, Kt., married Edward Rogers,
of Cannington, Somerset ; and Sir Francis Popham,
K.B., who died in 1674, married Helena, daughter of
Hugh Rogers, of Cannington, Somerset. Also, John
Harrington was chosen to represent the City of
Bath in Parliament in 1658, in the place of Colonel
Alexander Popham, when the latter relinquished that
seat, and sat for the county instead.

These facts might account for the presence at
Littlecote of a portrait of a " Harrington," but not for
a " George Harrington " being knighted.

LITTLECOTE

119

Many Harringtons were knighted in the 16th
and 17th centuries, but apparently no George Har-
rington.

Probably this is another example of the not un-
usual result of the posthumous labelling of pictures.

Portrait of a Lady. Lely.

Portrait of a Lady. Temp. James I.

Portrait of a Gentleman. Temp. Elizabeth.

Compare a portrait, by Cornelius Ketel, in the
National Portrait Gallery, of Edward Fiennes de
Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln, K.G.

William BrooJc, Lord Cohham. Attributed to Sir
Antonio More.

George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham. Born
1592. Favom^ite of James I. and Charles I. Mm'-
dered by Felton, 1628.

Portrait of a Lady. After Lely.

There are also miniatures of Queen Elizabeth as
a child, by Sir Antonio More ; of Jane Seymour, by
Holbein ; of Lord Herbert of Cherbury ; and of
William III. and Mary.

There is also in the Long Gallery a big Italian
Eenaissance seat, or throne, which the Florentines of
the 15th centmy called " residenza," brought not long
ago from the Villa S. Donato, near Florence, and
originally belonging to Giuliano de' Medici.

M. Paul Leroi, in the course of a long description
of this piece of furniture, written in L^Art for the

120 LITTLECOTE

year 1880 (which contains a drawing of it) says,
" L'authenticite de ce trone ne fait point question.
II devint apres la mort de Julien, arrivee en 1516, la
propriete, a titre de legs, de la famille d'un des princi-
paux seigneurs attaches a sa personne, le comte Nuti,
et n'est jamais sorti de cette famille jusqu'au mois de
Janvier 1872, epoque a laquelle la comtesse Lucrezia
Nuti se decida a s'en separer."

The cushion is covered with very old Genoese
brocade, and has been on the seat probably for
ages.

And we may note a bronze bust of Sir Isaac
Newton, from Hinton St. George; a marble bust of
Oliver Cromwell; an old clock by "Wm. Mason,
London," (William Mason became a freeman of the
Company of Clockmakers, 2 April, 1688) ; and a Greek,
or Etruscan, helmet.

The ceiling in the Long Gallery was put up in
1899, to take the place of one that probably dated
from the early part of the 19th century.

The idea of the design was taken from the bit
of old ceiling in the bay window opposite to the
fireplace.

When the new ceiling was put up a piece of paper
was discovered on a beam behind the cornice, evidently
a relic of a time previous to that of the cornice then
removed.

The paper is much worn by time, but the writing

LITTLECOTE

121

on it is fairly clear, and has been deciphered to be as ^he House.
follows : —

" The 11th of Aprell, 1650.

li.

Itt[em] 15 dussing of quarts bott[les] at

\JtJ

Itt. 05 dussing of pints glas bott at 3s. M.

a dussing

Itt. pad the 3 porttears for bringing of

them from the glas hous at Rattlef

Itt. pad the 3 porttear for carin of them

into the Strand

Itt. pad the porttear [ther] for speaking of

Itt. 2 great hampears

Som. is ....

06"

For what purpose these bottles were bought is not
obvious ; but possibly they were for the bottling of
half a butt of wine.

Colonel Alexander Popham was the owner of Little-
cote in the year in which this account is dated.

I 2

122 LITTLE COTE

The House.

The Tapestey Room.

This little room, leading out of the Long Gallery,
was hung with tapestry in 1899, and the ceiling was
put up at the same time.

Staircase.

And so we leave the Long Gallery, passing on the
right Juba's room, a little room so called after a black
servant of Edward Popham, M.P. (Juba was baptized
2 J anuary, 1762, at Chilton) ; Alcove Chamber ; the
present nurseries, which contain one of the plaster
overmantels put up by Chief Justice Popham; and
Popham Chamber ; and looking at a portrait (No. 19)
of Mrs. Leyborne Popham, the wife of General Ley-
borne Popham (No. 18), and at a farmyard scene by
George Morland; we find our way to the front stair-
case, where there hang —

Portraits of George III. and Queen Charlotte,
painted about 1767 by Allan Ramsay, sergeant-painter
to the King ; compare the two similar portraits now
in the National Portrait Gallery in London.

LITTLECOTE

123

Portraits of "Wild Dayrell," the horse that won TiieHouae.
the Derby in 1855, his trainer Rickaby, and his jockey
Sherwood. "Wild Dayrell" was owned by Mr. Francis
Leyborne Popham, was trained in the park, started
favourite at " evens," and won by two lengths.

(9a.) Portraits, by Kneller, of Alexander Bopham^
his wife, Lady Anne PopJianfi^ and their daughter
Elizabeth.

Lady Anne Montagu, daughter of Ralph, 1st Duke
of Montagu, married —

1st, Alexander Popham of Littlecote, who died
1705, son and heir of Sir Francis Popham, K.B.

2nd, in 1707, Lieut.-General Harvey, who became
Governor of Guernsey in 1715.

Elizabeth Popham married —

1st, 12 April, 1707, Edward Richard, Viscount
Hinchinbroke (eldest son of Edward, 3rd Earl of
Sandwich), who was, by her, father of John, 4th
Earl of Sandwich, and died 3rd October, 1722.

2nd, 30 July, 1728, at St. Giles in the Fields, her
first cousin, Francis Seymour, younger brother of Sir
Edward Seymour, 6th Bart., of Berry Pomeroy.

These two brothers, Edward (who, in 1750, became
8th Duke of Somerset) and Francis, were the sons
of Sir Edward Seymour, 5th Bart., of Berry Pomeroy

124

LITTLECOTE

TheEo^e. (^Jjq (jje^j 1741), and of his wife (see No. 8a in the
drawing-room) Letitia (who died 1738), only daughter
of Sir Francis Popham, K.B.

Francis Seymoui', died 23 Dec, 1761, his wife
having predeceased him 20 March of the same year
in Charles Street, Berkeley Square, and having been
buried in South Audley Street Chapel.

Portrait of William Shippen, M.P., brother of Ann
Shippen, who married Anthony Leyborne, and was, by
him, mother of Ann Leyborne, who married Edward
Taylor, and was, by him, mother of William Taylor.
William Taylor assumed the name of Leyborne, and
married Anne Popham, and was, by her, father of
Edward William Leyborne, who assumed the name
of Popham, and was the grandfather of Francis
William Leyborne Popham, the present owner of
Littlecote.

William Shippen, M.P., was an English Jacobite,
son of the Rector of Stockport ; an opponent of
Walpole ; and characterised by Pope as " Downright
Shippen." Born about 1672, he was educated at
Stockport school, M.P. for Bramber, 1707; and com-
mitted to the Tower, 1717. Walpole said of him,
"I would not say who was corrupted, but who,
I would say, was not corruptible — that man is
Shippen."

Shippen returned the compliment by saying, " Robin
and I are honest men."

LITTLECOTE 125

On a vote to remove Walpole, in 1741, lie did not
vote, but withdrew from the House with his followers.

Porch Eoom.

This room contains two large pieces of old Flemish
tapestry, which came from Kirby House, Inkpen. One
represents Neptune and Amphitrite with attendant
nymphs and mermen ; the other a man, in the costimie
of the time of Louis XIII., riding a white charger,
with an instructor standing at the side. The latter is
initialled in the corner T. P.

DrEvrrsrG Room.

The Dining Room was, in 1896, paneUed with
old oak that had long been lying in a loft over the
stables, and the ceiling was put in at the same time.

There is here a portrait of a man in a dark robe, h\xAX~u^-
painted for the Ricci Gallery in Florence, by Andrea
del Sarto, which Dr. Waagen describes as being " Of b^t^TWo^-*^
masterly execution."

K 2

126 LITTLECOTE

Hie House.

The SMOKmG Room.

The Smoking Room is finely panelled, and con-
tains —

(7c.) Portrait of Admiral Edward Popham.

(7d.) Portrait of Anne Carr, wife of Admiral
Edward Popham.

(18a.) Portrait of General E. W. Leyborne Popham,
by Downman.

Portrait, apparently also by Downman, and a com-
panion pictm'e to the portrait of General E. W. Ley-
borne Popham. Probably this is the portrait of the
Rev. Edward Popham, D.D., who was born in 1728, and
died in 1815, and was for 26 years rector of Chilton
Foliat. He was brother to Francis Popham and to
Anne Popham, who married William Leyborne.

Over the mantelpiece is the date 1592 (the year in
which Sir J ohn Popham became Lord Chief Justice),
and below the date is the Chief Justice's shield of arms.

The Servants' Offices are typical of the house. In
the servants' hall there hangs over the fireplace a
framed copy of the rules to be observed in the hall.
This copy was printed about the year 1860, from a
much older copy, and is as follows : —

LITTLECOTE

127

The HoMM,

" RULES
To Be Observed
IN THE SERVANTS' HALL

LITTLECOTE.

The Coachman is head of the Hall; he is
required to see that the Servants are pimctual
at their Meals :

Bbeakfast . . . from 8| to 9

DiMEE . . . from 1 to 2

Tea .... from 5 to 5|

Supper . . . at 9

And the Hall to be cleared by 10^ o'clock every
night.

No Waste allowed, nor any Food to be
taken out of the HaU.

All quarrelling, or bad language, to be re-
ported to the Butler by the Coachman.

By Order of Mk. POPHAM."

128 LITTLECOTE

Th* House. The Cellars are worth seeing for the arching of
the ceiling.

In an inventory made in 1735, on the death of
Francis Popham, the contents of the cellars were
as follows : —

In the Small Beer Vault £ s. d.

Item Five Hogsheads of Small Beer 2 10 0

In the Strong Beer Ditto

Item Wooden Horses for BarreUs all
round the vaults Eight Hogsheads of good
strong Beer Two Ditto Damaged One and
Thirty Ironbound Hogsheads One and
Thirty Wooden Ditto with some Iron
Hoops Six Brass Corks Four Beer Filters
a Funnell and Fom- Tap Tubbs . . 43 0 0

In the Wine Vault

Item One Hogshead of White Port
about one third out One ditto of Red one
third out Three Dozen and Eight Bottles
of Champain Two Dozen and Six Bottles
of Burgundy Two Dozen and Eleven
Bottles of Hermitage Two Dozen and
Six Bottles of Old Hock Three Bottles
of French Clarett One Dozen and Three
Bottles of Damaged Claret and Two Bottles
of Arrack 39 4 0

LITTLECOTE

129

TJie Garden

THE GARDEN.

But — as Bacon has taught us — without a garden
"buildings and palaces are but gross handy-works" ;
so, let us wander through the iron gates leading on
to the North Terrace, and to the garden, wherein
are trees that have, in all probability, been tended by
Wild Darrell's gardener, " Cornelius the Dutchman."

The Mount, which is of a simple construction,
often found in Tudor Gardens, is near two patriarchal
tulip-trees, and the rose garden, on the west side of
the house.

At the bottom of the garden is a long herbaceous
border, and parallel to it runs a branch of the Kennet,
containing trout, some of which are of the same breed
as those which appeared on Wild Darrell's table, and,
at a later date, were sent annually, by General Ley-
borne Popham, to the Waterloo banquet.

On the wall that is near are two apricot-trees,
believed to have been planted about 1524, when the tree
was first introduced into England by Wolf, gardener
to Henry VIII.

L 2

130 LITTLECOTE

The Park.

THE PARK.

Next to the garden lies the park, of which Leland
wrote nearly three hundred and fifty years ago, " There
is a faire and large parke hangynge apon the Clyffe
of a highe Hille well woddyd over Kenet," and his
description will guide us to it now.

About 300 yards to the west of the house are signs
of excavations, which are believed to mark the site of
the house which existed before the present Littlecote ;
and a little farther to the west is the site of the Roman
pavement, mentioned on page 90.

It was about the year 1652 that the ancestors of
the present deer were brought into the park ; as we
learn from a letter of Lord Conway — a kinsman of
the Pophams — who, writing in that year, says, "Your
brother told me that he was bringing the deer that
were at Wellington to Littlecote, wherein I trust he
does well, as he mil then have the benefit of them."

But there are inhabitants of the park of even
greater local antiquity than the deer ; for the Romans
— who constructed in the park the magnificent pave-
ment (which has now perished) — are said to have
brought with them (what is still here) the edible snail.
Helix Pomatia, more than a thousand years before a
Darrell came to Littlecote.

APPENDICES.

Appendix A.

CALSTON OF LITTLECOTE.

Arms of the Oalston Family :—
Argent a bar gules, in chief two lions rampant of the last.
And another coat : Azure three mullets or vnthin a hordwre argent.

ROGER DE OALSTON, died 20 Edward I. (129f), seized of lands
at Calstone, Quemerford, Lyttlecote, Chilhampton, Little Durnford,
Ebbesborne Wake, and Enham Knights.

ROGER OALSTON,
born 1291 ; died 1343.

JOHN CALSTON,

born 1322 ; died 1358.

JOHN OALSTON,
born 1343.

THOMAS CALSTON.

ELIZABETH CALSTON = WILLIAM DARRELL, younger
bapt. 1401 ; son of Sir William Darrell of

married 1415. Sessay.

POPHAM OP LITTLECOTE. ^„ „„„ e.„.,, C„™.™, ^„ s.vMo™.

ArH8.

on a chief gules two bmka' heads eaboseed or.

I- HlKF JUSTICE of the King s Bench, nnd knighted 1592 ; died 1007.

.t. T Amy, i1«u. and heir of Roliei t Games of Castleton
Glamorgan ; died 1012.

(2) SIS rSAHCXS

Kniglil«l ;,i fadi
1<<3S : died 1(MU.

POPBAK, Kt. T Annk. dan. of John
u !.■>»'.: M.P. 1(121)- Dudley of Sloke
Newington; boru
24 Feb., 1575.

"^■"I' YwTJi POP""' niCH.MM. rHAMPEllM.

died 1(B7. ic,.. 11522,

Ei.E.VNOH PllPIUM ^ lioOEH WaBRE

of Hester-
combe.

-A

■''died Si!'";;,",' ' '■►^"^■•ope p,„.„am = t„om.,8 hai.„.,m ;

riedatM'el'ls.- 'Ltttt^ ' '^^"-"^ ;gt..at-,aw , died

Maky Popham = .Silt John Mallet
of EninoM'.

Katharine Pophasi
(lied 1037,

WlLLIAM CARn=;

John Popham =
diedv.p.lffiiT.

Mary, dau. of
Sir Selx^stinu
Har^-ev.

DoBOTtrr (■olk='(H) AUSXAHDER POPHAM^JleJ-iti.v (Hrb-
maiTied l(t:^.~i - m.v n^iAHAi r >

maiTieil 10S5 ;
died IftW.

BI.P.,

Plot<.
10U9.

Colonel I one of the

oi'h I'pper House; died

dan. of Ai thin
(toodwyn (2nd
wife)

Jane T- Philip, 4th U>rd = (:f,d wife)(2nd)ANNE'rABR(lst) =j= Edward Popiiam
.rluui- WluirUm : born o.. ..i;

\VluirUni ; boi .
1613; died 1090

I r

William Carr = Ann Wharton.

Parli ^

Generul- at - Sen ;
died 1651 ; bmied
in Westmiuater
Abbey.

I I

Thomas Popham.
HuoH Popham.

Sir Edward (afterwaitls Viscount) Conway =
Knighted at C.uliz 1596; creat«<l B;iron Con-
way 1025. and Viscount Conway 1027 ; died
1631.

^ Edward Rwiers
of Cannington;
died 1027.

= Dorothy, dau. of Sir John
Tracy of Te<lingt«n, po.
Gloucester.

I I I I I I

( t)ther (l.'iuglite

I 1

Fha.nceb PiiPBAM =F Edwabd, 2ncl Vi

ed 1621;

died 1071, aged
74.

DKB PoPILVM ;
p. 1642.

(4) SIX F&AMCXS POPHAM

K.B.! d.^a 11.74.

Helena, dau. of
Hugh Rogel-S
of C'annington:
died 1872.

1st 2nd i

M.IBU.VBET, dau. of =i= Sin Edward Setjioub =j= Letitia Popham.

Sir William
Wale.

4lh Bt. of Ben y Pome
"■oy : g-g-g-g-gi andson
of John Sevnioul- and
Ehzalielh. dau. of Su-
George Dairell of Lit-
tlecote.

(0) AI.ISXANDI« POPHAM =r Jan-

Essex Popham
married .Folin.
3rd Lord
Poulett.

GeoBOE PoPHiM
of Berwick Bis-
set; married
Oiilciljella Fold.

I I I
Phillip Popham.
John Popham.
and Anne P(u'-
HAM, marrieil
W. Ashe.

Letitia Popham:
married John
Baudeii in 1609;
died 17113.

Conway ; hapl. l.jlU :
died 1055.

Edward. 3i-d Viscount Ci
createtl Earl of Conway
died 1083.

Brilliana Conway (3rd wife) j Sir Robert Harley,

alMHit 10011 .
■lied 162:1; died

Mary

dau. of Sir William
Bottom of Parkgate.
CO. Devon.

K. B. ; Impt.
died lO.V).

Sir Edward Harley
iKitn 1621 ; died 1711(1.

Abigail, dau.
of Nathaniel
Stephens.

Alexander Popham -
of Bourton-on - the -
Hill ; married 1679.

Brilliana Hablet.
died 1088.

(5) AUXAMBBH POPHAM '

L.\DY Anne Mont.aoc.
dan. of 1st Dnke of
Montagu.

ROBEBT HABLEY;
horn 1661 ; created Earl of
Oxfoid 1711 ; die<\ 1724.

Letitl\ Poph.am
died 1738.

-Sir Ed. Sey'Moub,
Bt., of Beny Poi
roy; died 1741.

Popham Seymour (Cmi-
way), assumed name of
Conway ; killed 1699.

Francis Seymour (Conwav) =f= (3id wifel Charlotte.
Iwrn 1679 ; succeeded to (Viii-
way estates ; created Baron
Conway ; died 1731.

Robert Walpcile.

of Sir

Alexander Popham,
Ediv.vbd Popham,
died within 30 hours
(if each other, 1739.

Georoe Popham.
rector of ChilUm
Foliat; died
1743.

I I
(7) FKAMCIS VOPBAM =i= ANNE Popham.

Edward, Viscount Hi
married 1707 ; died v

nchinbroke =
.p. 1722.

Elizabeth Poph.vm -
died 20 March. 1761.

■ Francis Seymour (2nd son) :
manied 1728; died 23 Dec,
1761.

Sib Edwabd Seymodb,
(ith Bt.,of BeiTy Poiue-
l oy, 8th Duke of Som-
erset, 1760; died 1758.

Pbancis (Seymour-Conway),
Bai'cm Conway ; Iku-u 1719;
created Marquis of Hert-
ford ; died 1794.

Francis Popham;
died 1708; aged3.

Elizabeth Popham ;
died 171(1. inhit.

= Rebecca Huddon.

I I

Alexander Popham :
died s.p. 1722; Anne
Popham ; died 17.S7.

Letitia Popham = Henby Bhidoman.

John. 4th Earl of Sandwich :
dietl 1792.

(il) FBAXrCIS POPHAM Dorothy, dau. of
born 1734; di.-d 17sn. iMathew Hut-

ton, Ai'chbishop
of Canterbury ;
died 31 July.
17tt7.

Ei)iv.*RD Popham. D.D.,
,„ lor of Chilton Foliat;
dirtl Sept. 1815. s.p.

Anne Popham
born 17S7.

William Leyborne Leyborne
(son of the Rev. Edward Tay-
lor) assumed the name of Ley-
borne 1751 ; Governoi' of Gra-
nada ; died 1775.

Edward William Leyborne,
assumed the name of Popham.
See AppetidLr D.

Appendix D.

LEYBORNE-POPHAM OF LITILECOTE.

Arms.

n,„. .,.71,, , 'Pa.tmt granted 1st March, 1805.

Qi^aHed,, : 1 a^ul 4 ar.jeut on a cUef ,j,des tu,o hacks' head, cahosse<l o,-, for PopU,u ■ -> a.ul 'i ■ r , , ,

Mortlake.

William Leyborne Taylor
Assumed the surname and
anus of Iieyborne only by
Act of Parliament, 1731.
Governor of Grenada, Do-
minica, St. Vincent, and
Tobago ; died 1775.

Anthony Leyborne, and
of his wife Anne Shi|)pen.

Anne Popham, dau. of
Edward Popham, M.P.
for Wilts : born 17:^7.

(1) BD WARS WIUIAM I.EYBOaMS

born 17(il. Assiuued the surname and
arms of Popham in addition by Royal
License 22 Dec, 18U4 ; married 22 July,
1806 ; General 1837 ; died 1843.

ICLiZAnKTU, dau. of the
Vi'U. Aic bdi'aeon Andrew,
Hector of Powderham.

(2) SSSWARO WZUZAZa XiEVBOaNE-POPKAK

born 1807 ; died s.p. 18S1.

Francis Leyborne-Popham =
born 18U9; manied 1857;
died 1880.

: Elizabeth, dau. of
James Block ; died
1865.

I I I I I I
2 othei' sons, and
4 daughU'i s.

FiiANCiR Ilumi

Leyborne-Popham.
born 10 Jan., 1801 ;
died 21 June, 1861.

(:-!) FXt&NCZS WZXiXiZAK = Mxvu Isabel,
Z.ZS'SBORNZS-POPHAni, dau. of Henry
bornlS02; ni.iriied l.SJII. Howard, of

Gi'eystoke.

FR.iNciK HuoH Arthur
Leyborne - Popham,
born 1864.

Francis Alexander t'o.MiToN -
Leyborne-Popham; born
1865; married 1890 ; died 189U.

Ethki.. dan. of
J. Kent Rye,
of Brighton.

2 dan^hters

Hugh Alexander Leyborne-Popham,
born 1890.

INDEX.

AiLESBURY MSS., extract from, 97

Airel, castle of, 2

Alcove Chamber, 122

Andrew, Ven. Archdeacon, 116

Elizabeth, wife of Edw, Wm.

Leyborne Popham, 116
Anne, Queen, and Sir Edw. Seymotu-'s

Peerage, 104
- .1 of Denmark, visits to Littlecote

of, 96

Ante-chapel Chamber, description of, 90
Apricot trees, two old, 129
Aragon, Katherine of, see Katharine
Arel, Marmaduc de, 2, 3

Ralph de, 3

. . Thomas de, 3
Armillary Sphere, 76
Ashe, Letitia, 104

WiUiam, 104

Astrolabe, an old Persian, 76
Aubrey, and the "Littlecote Legend," 44
-■ ' and Sir John Popham's reforma*
tion, 64

■ and the colonisation of New Eng-
land, 70

— — reference from to John and Sir

Francis Popham, 100
Axfoi-d, trouble with tenants at, 18

on felling trees at, 19-24

- ■■ ■ ' the sale of, referred to, 42

Bacon, Lord, at the Earl of Essex's trial,
69

Bagley, 10
Balston, 10

Barnes, Mrs., her deposition, 44, &c.

Barrett, Valentine, 4

Bath, royal progress of Charles II. to, 78

Bauden, Sir John, 110

Beale, Mrs. Mary, portrait painter, 105

"Beere's Inne," 9

Bell, Mr., addresses Parliament on certain
abuses, 66

Berkeley, Sir Maurice, nominated member

of the Coimcil of Virginia, 72
Biron, Marshal, see Buyroome
Blontte, murder of, 35, 65
Blount, see Blontte
Blounts, the, of Gloucestershire, 65
— — — their connexion with the Darrells,

•— — their connexion with the Pophams,
65

Boleyn, Anne, death and execution of,
74

Books, old law, with Sir' J. Popham's

annotations, 81
Bourbon, Gabrielle de, wife of Louis II.,

portrait of, 80
Braganza, Katharine of, visit to Littlecote,

Brick Hall, the, 82

Bridges, Anthony, and the "Littlecote

Legend," 43, 49

letter to Wm. Darrell, 49, 50

Brinde, Thomas, murder of, 36

Bromley, Sir Thomas, letters to, from

Wm. Darrell, 39, 41
his interest in Wm. Darrell, how

secured, 53

INDEX

Bromley, Sir Thomas, at Mary, Queen of

Scots' trial, 67
Buckingham, 1st Duke of, see Villiers,

George

Burleigh, Lord Treasurer, at Queen of

Scots' trial, 67
Burnet, Bishop, and Lord Halifax, 85
Busli, Idonea de. Charters of, 3
Buyroome, Mous. ( probably Marshal

Biron), reference to, in a satirical

paper, 38

Calbhill, Darells of, 4

when purchased by John Darrell, 4

Calston family, the, 1

Elizabeth, heiress of Littleoote, 2, 5

marriage of, 2, 5

— — John, 1

John (son of former), 2

Roger de, first possessor of Little-
cote, 1

Roger de, (son of former), second

possessor of Littlecote, 1
Campbell, Liord, Lives of the Chief Justices,

extract from, on Sir John Popham's

early life, 63
Carleton, Sir Dudley, letter from Mr. John

Chamberlain, 95
Carr, Anne, to whom married, 83

portraits of, 110, 126

John, 11

■ Letitia, to whom married, 102

portrait of, 103

— — William, to whom mai'ried. 111
Cellars, the, inventory of contents of, 128
Ceyssa, the Dai'elles of, 3
Chamberlain, Mr. John, letter in 1601 to

Sir Dudley Carleton, 95
Champernoun, Sir Richard, arms of, 93
Chapel, the, 83

Charles II., restoration of, referred to, 78

— royal progress to Bath, 78

visit to Littlecote, 97, 102

Charlotte, Queen, portrait of, 122
Christ and an Angel, picture of, 92

the Woman of Samaria, picture of,

Chilton Folyat, assessment of, in Domesr
day, 8

its early owners, 8

let on lease to Sir Edw. Darrell, 9

purchased by Sir Edw. Darrell, 8,

9, 10

— — description of, 9

value of, 9, 10

troubles with tenants at, 14, 15

members of the Blount family at,

bm'ial of Col. Alex. Popham at, 102

— — — chin-ch, letter on repairs of, 6
Civil War, raising troops for, 106, 107
Clinton, Edward Fiennes de, portrait

referred to, 119
Clocks, curious, 77, 120
Clyfford, Henry, 12
Cobham, Lord, Greorge, portrait of, 80
■ Lord, William, portrait of, 119

Coke, Sir Edward, at Earl of Essex's trial,

. his conduct at Sir Walter Raleigh's

trial, 69, 70
Cole, Dorothy, first wife of Col. Alex.

Popham, 102

possibly a portrait of, 104

Collins, Anthony, letter from John Locke,

115

Colucci, an antiquarian writer, 92

Combe, 10

Compton, 10

Conservatory, the, 80

Constable, of Hungerford, and the Dutch
prisoners, 82

Conway, Lord, see Seymour, Francis

Ursula, Countess of, to whom mar-
ried, 83

Copernican system, 77

Cornelius, the Dutch gardener, 59, 129

Com-tenay, Sir William, 116

Croft, Sir James, letters to, from Wm.
Darrell, 39, 40

Cromwell, Oliver, nominated member of
the Council of Virginia, 72

bronze bust of, 77

marble bust of, 120

INDEX

iii

Cromwell, Oliver, at public funeral of
Admiral Edw. Popham, 109

Danyell, Mary, property bequeathed to,

by Sir Edw. Darrell, 10, 11
Darell, Sir Edward, 3
— — Joan, 4

■ Sir Lionel, of Pretherne Court, 5

Sir Marmaduke, of Fulmer Court, 4

— — — ' letter from re-execution of
Mary, Queen of Scots, 57

■ Sir Thomas, 4

William, 4

Darelles of Ceyssa, 3
Darells of Calehill, 4
of Scotney, 4

Darrell, see aiso Airel, Arel, Darell, Darelles,
Darells, Darrells, Dayrel
■■ chamber, the, 93
— — family, the, 2

Leland's reference to the, 3

" Darrell's Tree," legend of, 73
Darrell, Sir Edward, 5

a great landowner in Wilts, 6
Vice-Chamberlain to Katharine

of Aragon, 6
grants to, by Katharine of Aragon, 7
grant to his widow, 7
' I Sir Edward, son of John, 7
to whom married, 7
father of "Wild" Darrell, 8
reproved for chasing Bishop's
deer, 8

pm?chaser of Chilton Foliat, 8

death of, 10, 12

instructions in will of, 10, 11

inquisition post-mortem, 11

children of, 12
— -— Elizabeth, property left to, 12
Elynor, 11, 12

to whom married, 13
Darrell, George, cousin of Sir Edward, 10

fellow student with Sir John
Popham at the Temple, 65
Sir George, son of Wm. Darell

keeper of Great Wardrobe to
Edward IV., 5

Darrell, George, to whom married, 5

to whom his estates were devised

in trust, 5
relation to Henry VTII., and

Edward VI., 5, 74
relationship to Sir Edw. Seymo\ir,

104

■ John, founder of family in Kent, 4

■ ■ John, son of Sir Edward, slain at

Arde, 7
II Mary, marriage of, 6

■ ■ Thomas, son of Sir Edward, 12

■I William, son of Sir Wm. of Seseay, 2
marriage of, 2, 5
Sub-Treasm er of England, 2
through marriage became pos-
sessor of Littlecote, 2
Sir William, of Sessay, 2

William, or "Wild," son of Sir

Edward, 12, 13

last of the Darrells of Littlecote, 8
during minority an exile from

home, 15
troubles at Chilton Polyat, 14
troubles at Wanborough, 16
troubles at Uffington, 17
legal proceedings to recover his

lands, 15
troubles at Axford, 18
letters on the felling of trees at

Axford, 19-24
rent-roll of, 25

divorce case of Sir Walter Hun-
gerford, 25

letters from Lady Anna Hunger-
ford, 26-33

quarrel with Sir Walter Hunger-
ford, 25

attacked by Sir Walter's half-
brother, 26
versus Hide, 35

charged with the Blontte murder,
35, 65

at law with his tenants, 36
in the Fleet prison, 36, 38
the murder of Thomas Brinde, 36
satirical lines of, 38

INDEX

Darrell, William — (contimied)

prosecuted by Sir H. Knyvett, 37
dociiments relating to his history,
37-42

letters written to influential per-
sons during imprisonment,
39-42

accused of slander, 37

the " Littleoote Legend," 43, &c.

letter to Reynold Scriven, 53

his offers for resisting Spanish
invasion, 55

in London, as a courtier, 56

number of lawsuits of, 56

his house in Warwick Lane, 58

London table supplied from Lit-
tlecote, 58, 59

journey from London to Little-
cote, bill of fare during, 59

death of, 60

his legal adviser, 65

initials of, in frieze, 98
Darrells of Littlecote, end of the, 62

their connexion with the Blounts,
65

Darrells of Sessay, 2, 3

Dart's story of Admiral Edw. Popham's

monument, 109
Davison, secretary, censured by Sir John

Popham, 67
Dawney, Sir Guy, 4
Dayrel, Henry, 3

John, 3

Marmaduke, 3

Sir Marmaduke, of Sessay, 3

William, 3

his acquisition of Sessay, 3

Deer, antiquity of the, 130

Derby Winner in 1855, portrait of "Wild"

Darrell, 123
Dining Room, the, 125
Don Quixote, pictures representing scenes

from, 82
Drawing Room, the, 79, &c,
Dudley, Anne, wife of Sir Francis Popham,

portrait of, 100
Dutch Parlour, the, 81

Dyer, Lord Chief Justice, letter from
Wm. Darrell to, 39

Edward VL, porti-ait of, 74, 80

signature of, 76

Elizabeth, Queen, Wm. Darrell's offers to,
for resisting Spanish invasion, 55

' conversation with Sir John Pop-

ham, 67

— — — visit to Littlecote, 95

— — miniatm-e of, 119

Elizabeth's Chamber (Queen), 95

Ellesmere, Lord Keeper and Essex's insur-
rection, 68

Englefield, Sir Francis, letter to Dorothy
Essex, 33

Essex, Earl of, his rebellious conduct and

trial, 68, 69
■ Dorothy, letter from Lady Anna

Hungerford, 33
— — letter from Sir Francis

Englefield, 38

Sir Thomas, 7, 8

William, 7

Sir William, Darrell's estate at

Axford conveyed to, 18
Evelyn, John, letter to Pepys, 114

Fettyplace, Jane, to whom married, 7
John, 7

Fleet Prison, Wm. Darrell imprisoned in,
30, 38

Foliat, Sir Sampson, tomb of, at Chilton
Folyat, 9

Fortesque, Mary, administrator of Sir

Edw. Darrell's estate, 10
Fotheringay Castle, execution of Mary,

Queen of Scots at, 56
French, Jane, to whom married, 112
Fretherne Court, seat of Sir Lionel

Darell, 5
Froxfield, 10

Fulcher's Life of Gainsborough, referred

to, 113, 114
Fuller, on Sir John Popham's wild youth, 65
— — — on Sir John Popham's severity as a

judge, 70

INDEX

▼

Fulmer Church, by whom rebuilt, 4

' Court, to whom belonged, 4
Fyttleton, 10

Gamhs, Amy, to whom married, 64, 66

portrait of, 100

Robert, 64, 66

Garden, the, 129

Garnet, Henry, Jesuit, trial of, 70

George III., portrait of, 122

George, Mr., the Littlecote steward, 90

Mrs., carpet worked by, 91

Gift of God, vessel commanded by George

Popham, 71
Gilbert, Sir John, nominated member of

the Council of Virginia, 72
Raleigh, sails for New England,

Glamorganshire, mines in, belonging to

the Darrells, 66
Godolphin, Earl of, 85
Golyas, John, chaplain of Littlecote, 1
Gorges, Sir Ferdinando, colonial enterprise

of, 71, 72

Great Hall, the, description of, 73, &c.
"Greybeards," two stoneware, 77
Gunpowder Plot, trial of conspirators of, 70
Gwyn, Nell, portrait of, 80

Hackleston, 10

Halifax, Lord, and Bishop Bm-net, 85
Hall, Mr. Hubert, aud Wm. Darrell's

papers, &c., 38-42
Hanvyles, 10

Harley, Brilliana, wife of Alex. Popham, 110

Harrington, George, 118

"Harrington, Sir George," portrait

labelled, 118
Harrington, Sir John, 118
Hart, Sir Edmond, Kt., 5

Elizabeth, to whom married, 5

Harvey, Brilliana, to whom married, 110
— — Lt.-Gen,, to whom married, 112,

123

■' Mary, wife of John Popham, 101
Hatton, Sir Christopher, letter from Wm.
Darrell to, 39

Hatton, Sir Christopher, at Mary, Queen

of Scots' trial, 67
Hautte, Jane, to whom married, 5
Helix Pomatia, the edible snail, 130
Helmes, 10

Henry VIII., initials of, 74

visit to Littlecote, 95

Herbert, of Cherbury, Lord, miniature of,
119

Hide versus Wm. Darrell, 35
Hinchinbroke, Edward Richard, Visct., to

whom married, 123
Holbein, John, reference to painting by,

Howard, Thomas, Earl of Surrey, portrait
of, 80

Huddon, Mrs. portrait of, 118

Rebecca, to whom married, 113

Hijidihras, pictures representing scenes
from, 82

Hungerford, The Churchwardens of, ac-
counts of, 97

The Constables of, accounts of, 87

manor of, 9

■ Lady Anna, letter to Dorothy
Essex, 33

letters to Wm. Darrell, 26-33

Sir Edward, nominated member of

the Council of Virginia, 72
divorce suit of, 25, 26
quarrel with Wm. Darrell, 25
Hungerford-Darrell Divorce Case, letters

relating to the, 26-33
Huntsworth, the birthplace of Sir John

Popham, 63
Hutton, Dorothy, to whom married, 79

Italian Renaissance seat, 119, 120

James I., visit to Littlecote, 96
James II., his Commissioners at Littlecote,
85

Jerkins, leathern, 77
Johnson, Edward, 11
Juba's Room, 122

Kathbrine Howard, Queen, 9

n2. ,

INDEX

Katherine of Aragon, letters to Sir Bdw.

Darrell, 6, 7

grants to Sir Edw. Darrell, 7

— — of Braganza, visit to Littlecote, 97
Kent, Earl of, at execution of Mary,

Queen of Scots, 57
Kirk, Colonel, duel with Popham Seymovu",

105

Knight, John, 11

Knightlye, Sir Richard, at execution of

Mary, Queen of Scots, 57
Knighton, 12

Knyvett, Lady, and the "Littlecote
Crime," 45

Sir Henry, harbours murderers of

Thomas Brinde, 36, 37

prosecution of Wm. Dan-ell, 37
letter to Sir John Thynne, 51

Lady, portrat of a, temp. James I., 119

by Lely, 119

after Lely, 119

Leicester, Earl of, letters from Wm.

Darrell to, 39, 40
Leland's reference to the Popham family,

Lely, Sir Peter, visit to England, 116

Lempster, WiUiam, Lord, 103

Lenthal, William, speaker, at public
fimeral of Edward Popham, 109

Leverton, manor of, 9, 10

Leyborne, Miss, portrait of, 79

Edward William, date of birth, 113

assumed name of Popham, 113

— — — William, brother of Gen. Leyborne
Popham, portrait of, 79

William Leyborne, portrait of, 115

to whom married, 115
Governor of Granada, &c., 115
death and burial of, 113, 115

Leyborne-Popham, Edward Wm,, General
79

portraits of, 11.5, 126
biographical data, 116
to whom married, 116
— — Edward William, son of General
Edw. Wm. Leyborne-Popham, 116

Leyborne-Popham, Francis, 116

Francis William, 116

Mrs., portrait of, 122

Library, the, 80
Lisle, Eleanor de, 8
Littlecote, description of :—

The House, 73

Great Hall, 73

Drawing Room, 79

Conservatory, 80

Library, 81

Dutch Parlour, 81

Brick Hall, 82

Chapel, 83

William of Orange's Rooms, 84
Ante-Chapel Chamber, 90
DarreU Chamber, 93
New Chamber, 93
Queen Elizabeth's Chamber, 95
Staircases, 98, 122
Long Gallery, 98
Tapestry Room, 122
Porch Room, 125
Dining Room, 125
Smoking Room, 126
Servants' Hall, 127
Garden, 129
Park, 130
— — — its first possessors, 1

divine service first heard in, 1
in possession of Darrell family, 2
assessment of, in Domesday, 8
proceedings by Wm. Darrell to

recover property at, 15
in possession of Sir John Popham,

52, 62

u'on entrance gates at, 73
fine collection of leathern jerkins
at, 77

dinner to Charles II. at, 78
Dutch prisoners at, 81
Dutch pictures at, 82
Prince of Orange's visit to, 85
James II. 's commissioners at, 85
royal visitors entertained at, 95-97
gari'ison quartered at, 98
inventory of contents of, 99

INDEX

" Littlecote Legend," 37

— — history of the, 43, &c.

Lloyd, David, quotation relative to New

England, 70
Locke, John, letter to Anthony Collins,

115

Long, Thomas, marriage of, 6
Long Gallery, the, 98

formerly called " The Long Matted
Gallery, 99
Long Gallery Ceiling, decoration of, 120
Longleat, 51
Longprydye, 10

Lydeyerr, Thomas de, chaplain of Little-
cote, 1

Macaulay's History of England, extracts
from, 85, 86, 97

Macclesfield, Earl of, 86

Maine Historical Society, Popham cele-
bration volume, 71

Mallet, Sir John, nominated member of
the Council of Virginia, 72

Man, portrait of a, by Andrea del Sarto, 125

by Clouet, 80

Mary, Queen of Scots, account of the
execution of, 57

committee to confer with Lords, 66
trial of, 67

Mary, Queen, wife of William III., por-
traits of, 80, 84

Mary and John, ship commanded by
Raleigh Gilbert, 71

Mason, William, clock made by, 120

Massey, Colonel, 106

Medici, Juliano de', renaissance seat of, 119
Michell, Sir Bartholomew, nominated

member of the Council of Virginia, 72
Milton, John, Latin letter to John, King

of Portugal, 107

Letters of State, 108
Miniatures of Queen Elizabeth, 119

Lord Herbert, 119

Jane Seymour, 119

William HI. and Mary, 119

Money's History of Newbury, referred to,

81, 95-97

Tii

Monson, Sir William, Bart., 103
Montagu, Lady Anne, portrait of, 112

to whom maiTied, 112, 123
Montague, Sir Edwarde, at execution of

Mary, Queen of Scots, 57
Moore, Elizabeth, 12
Robert, 11

Morland, George, a farmyard scene by,
122

Mulgrave, Lord, creations of, 83

see also Sheffield, John, Lord
Musselburgh, battle of, 75

Nhedlewobk, a curious piece of, 90
New Chamber, the, 93
Newbury, Dutch prisoners at, 81
Newton, Sir Isaac, bronze bust of, 120
Nichols's Progresses of Queen Elizabeth,

extract from, 96
Progresses of James I., extract

from, 96
Nottingham, Earl of, 85

Orange, Prince of, see William of Orange

and William III.
Orcheston Manor, to whom granted, 6
Oxford, Earl of, 85
Park, the, 130

Leland's description of, 130
deer from Wellington for, 130
Paul v.. Pope, decree condemning the

Copernican system, 77
Pembroke, Earl of, Wm. Darrell's release
from prison, 36

letter from Wm. Darrell to, 41
presses Darrell for ransom, 54
his relations with Sir John Pop-
ham, 66
Penruddocke, Thomas, 104
Pepys, Samuel, letter to John Evelyn, 114
Percy, Richard de, of Kildare, 3
Pigot, Alice, 3

Pope, Alexander, his opinion of Wm.

Shippen, 124
Pius VII., Pope, the Copernican system,

when accepted, 77

viii

INDEX

Popham Arms, at Littlecote over door-
way, 73

Chamber, 122

Colony, in New England, 71, 72

— — family of : —

— — connexion with the Blounts, 65
■ Lady, wife of Sir John, portrait of,
100

— — — Mrs., portrait by Lely, 116
' two portraits mentioned byFnlcher,
113, 114

Alexander, father of Sir John, 63

Col. Alexander, son of Sir Francis : —

portraits of, 77, 101, 104
house besieged by Cavalier forces, 78
at Restoration of Charles II., 78
dinner to Charles II. at Littlecote,
78

pardon granted to, 78
biographical data, 102
raising troops for Parliamentary

forces, 106, 107
to whom married, 112, 123

Alexander, son of Admiral Edward ;

portrait of, 110

Alexander, M.P. of Littlecote: —

portrait of, 112
to whom married, 112
Alexander, son of Sir Francis Pop-
ham, K.B., 123
— — Anne, wife of Wm. Ashe, portrait
of, 104

Anne, wife of Admiral Edward : —

condolences from Council of State

at husband's death, 108, 109
gratuity from Parliament, 109
portrait of, 110

monument to Admiral Edward
and wife in Westminster
Abbey, 109
mar., 2ndly, Lord Wharton, 110

Anne, dau. of Alex. Popham, 110

Anne, dau. of Edw. Popham, M.P.,

supposed portrait of, 113
to whom married, 115

Anne, wife of Francis Popham,

112

Popham, Lady Anne, wife of Alex. Pop-
ham, portrait of, 123
— — Edward, brother of Sir John

successor to Huntworth estates,
63

— — — Admiral Edward, 5th son of Sir
Francis : —

portraits of, 77, 105, 126
eminent Parliamentary Com-
mander, 77, 105
Admiral of the Fleet, 105
biographical data, 105-107
reference to, by John Milton,

107-108
death of, 108

bOTial-place referred to, 83
public funeral in Westminster

Abbey, 108
monument in Westminster Abbey,

109

defacement of monument, 109

Edward, M.P., son of Francis and

Anne : —

portrait of, 113
to whom married, 113
Rev. Edward, D.D., probable por-
trait of, 126

Elizabeth, dau. of Sir John, Arms

of, 93

Elizabeth, dau. of Col. Alexander,

112

to whom married, 123

Essex, dau. of Col. Alexander, 77

portrait of, 103

Sir Francis, son of Sir John : —

appointment on Virginian Council,
72

reference to, by Aubrey, 101
Sir Francis, son of Col. Alex-
ander : —

created K.B. by Charles II., 102

to whom married, 118
Francis, son of Sir Francis : —

Inventory of contents at Little-
cote, 99

to whom married, 112

death and burial of, 112

INDEX

Popham, Francis, son of Edward, M.P. : —

to whom married, 79

portrait of, 113
— — George, founder of a New England
colony, 71

account of, 72

death of, 72
I Hugh, portrait of, 105

assisted in raising recruits for
Parliamentary army, 106
— — John, excesses of, 101
— — Sir John, Lord Chief Justice : —

Arms of, 126

hie possession of Littlecote, 52
services rendered to Wm. Darrell,
53, 65

seizure of Wm. Darrell's papers, 60
from whom descended, 62
birthplace, 63

stolen by gypsies when a child, 63
his wild youth, 64
reformation, 64
to whom married, 64, 100
public career, 66-70
in the Temple, 66
M.P. for Bristol, 66
Solicitor-General, 67
Attorney-General, 67
Speaker of the House of Commons,
67

at trial of Mary, Queen of Scots, 67
severity towards Secretary Davi-
son, 67
Lord Chief Justice, 68
knighted, 68
the rebels in London, 68
demands siu-render of Earl of

Essex, 68
imprisoned by Earl of Essex, 68
moderation at trial of Earl of

Essex, 69
Presided at Sir W. Raleigh's
trial, 69

Presided at trial of the Gun-
powder Plot conspirators, 70

according to Fuller, a severe judge,
70

Popham, Sir John — (contimoed)

the New England Colony, 70, 71
death and bvu-ial of, 72
chair and thumbstocks of, 77
portraits of, 79, 100
annotations in old law books by, 81
. I " Katherine, sister of Sir Francis,
118

— — Letitia, dau. of Sir Francis, K.B. : —

portrait of, 79

to whom married, 79
I Letitia, dau. of Col. Alexander,
portrait of, 103
Letitia, dau. of Admiral Edward,

portrait of, 110

Miss Letitia, portrait of, 116

Reginald, 6

Porch Room, 125
Portraits : —

Bourbon, Gabrielle de, 80

Buckingham, 1st Duke of, see
Villiers, George

Carr, Anne, 110, 126

Letitia, 103

Charlotte, Queen, 122

Cobham, Lord, George, 80

Lord, William, 110

Dudley, Anne, 100

Edward VI., 74, 80

Elizabeth, Queen, 119

Games, Amy, wife of Sir John, 100

Gentleman, portrait of a, temp.
Elizabeth, 119

George III., 122

Gwyn, Nell, 80

" Harrington, Sir George," por-
trait labelled, 118
Herbert, of Cherbury, Lord, 119
Howard, Thos, Earl of Surrey, 80
Huddon, Mrs., 113
Lady, of a (probably Dorothy
Cole), 104

temp. James I„ 119

by Lely, 119

after Lely, 119

Leyborne, William, 79

William Leyborne, 115

INDEX

PortraitB — {conthiued)

Leyborne-Popham, General E. W.,

115, 126
Mrs., 122

Man, of a, 80

— — by Andrea del Sarto,

125

Mary, Queen, wife of Wm. III.,
80, 84

Montague, Lady Anne, 112
Popham portraits, two, mentioned

by "Fulcher," 113

Mrs., by Lely, 116

Alexander, son of Admiral

Edward Popham, 110
— — Alexander, son of Sir Francis

Popham, K.B., 123

Colonel, 77, 101, 104

M.P. of Littlecote,

112

Lady, wife of Sir John,

100

Anne, 104

daughter of Edward

Popham, M.P. (supposed por-
trait of), 113

Lady, 123

Edward, 77

Admiral, 105, 126

M.P., 113

Rev., D.D., 126

Essex, 103

Francis, 79, 113

Hugh, 105

Sir John, 79, 100

Letitia, 103, 110, 116

daughter of Sir

Francis, 79

Seymom*, Edward, Duke of
Somerset, 74

Jane, 119

Popham, known as " Beau"

Seymoui', 105
Shippen, William, M.P., 124
"The Spanish Lady," 117
Villiers, George, 1st Duke of

Buckingham, 119

Portraits — contintied)

Wharton, Philip, 4th Lord, 112

"Wild Dajrrell," Derby winner, 123

WUliam III., 80, 84

and Mary, 119

Portugal, John, King of, Latin letter from

John Milton to, 107, 108
Poulett, Catherine, 103

John, 3rd Lord, 103

Letitia, 103

Radcliffe, Egremond, 13
Raleigh, Sir Walter, trial of, 69, 70
Ramesbvu?y, 12

Rede, William, letter describing occur-
rences after Wm. Darrell's death, 60-62
Requests, Court of, suit in the, 16
Rogers, Edward, 118

nominated member of the Council

of Virginia, 72

Sir George, 118

Helena, 118

Hugh, 118

John, of Berks, to whom married, 18

Sir John, of Dorset, 18

Mary, 118

Roman tessellated pavement, 130

design of, 90
Rygge, 10

Sabino, the Popham Colony at, 71

Saga Dahoe, river entered by the Popham

colonists, 71
St. Benedict, window representing, 73
St. Cecilia, picture of, 80
St, George, island of, where Popham

colonists land, 71
St. Veronica, Flemish picture of, 92
Sampler, a ciu-ious, at Littlecote, 84
Schomberg, Count, 87
Scotney, the Darrells of, 4
Scott, Sir Walter, repeats the "Littlecote

Legend," in Rokeby, 44
Scriven, Reynold, letter from William

Darrell to, 53
Servants' Hall, rules in the, 127
Offices, the, 126

INDEX

Sessay, Yorkshire seat of the Darrells, 3
how acquired by Wm. Dajrrel, 3
Sessay Chuich, 3

Seymour, Edward, Duke of Somerset : —
portrait of, 74

verses inscribed on portrait, 75
successful expeditions against the

Scotch, 74, 75
appointments and promotions, 74,

created Duke of Somerset, 75

imprisoned in Tower of London, 75

execution of, 75
. .1. . Sir Edward, 8th Duke of Somerset,

to whom married, 79
Sir Edward, 4th Bart., 103

head of the "Western Alliance, "103

elected speaker, 103

Prince of Orange's greeting to,
103, 104

relationship to Sir Geo. Darrell, 104

Comptroller, 104

Peerage offered to him, 104

■ Sir Edward, 5th Bart., 79

Sir Edward, 6th Bart,, to title of

Duke of Somerset, 104
Francis, son of Sir Edward, 4th

Bart., created Lord Conway, 104
reference to, 110

■ Francis, brother of Sir Edward,
6th Bart., to whom married, 123

death of, 124

■ Jane, 3rd wife of Henry VIII., 5

marriage of, 74
initials of, 74
death and burial of, 74
miniature of, 119
Popham, daughter of Sir Edward,
4th Bart., 103
Popham, known as "Beau" Sey-
mour, portrait of, 105
succeeded to Conway estates,
105

kiUed in a duel, 105
Rev. R., 71

Sheffield, John, Lord, 3rd Earl of Mul-
grave, marriage of, 83

Shippen, William, M.P., portrait of, 124
Pope's opinion of his character,
124

Walpole's opinion of his character,
124

biographical data, 124
Shorter Catechism, The, compilation of,
111

" Shovel-board," 77
Shrewsbury, Earl of, 85

at execution of Mary, Queen of
Scots, 57
Smoking Room, the, 126
Somerset, Dukes of, see Seymour, Edward
Spanish Armada, Wm. Darrell's offers for

resisting Spanish invasion, 55
"Spanish Lady," the, portrait of, 117
story of, 117

Stawel, Ursula, widow of 1st Earl of

Conway, 83
Stourton, Margaret, to whom married, 5
Stradling, Sir Edward, of St. Donat's

Castle, 63

Stuart, Lady Arabella, conspiracy to place

her on the throne, 69
Sundial at Littlecote, 73
Surrey, Earl of, see Howard, Thomas

Tapbstby, old Flemish, description of
93, 94, 125

Tapestry Room, the, 122

Taylor, Rev. Edward, 115

Thynne, Sir John, letter from Sir Hy.

Knyvett regarding the "Little-
cote Crime," 51

Triptych, a, by Bernard van Orley, 92

Tyes, Henry de. Governor of Marlbor-
ough, 8

Uffington, trouble with tenants at, 17

Van Dtck, death of, referred to, 116
Vespasian, Emperor of Rome, coins of, 90
ViUiers, George, 1st Duke of Buckingham,

portrait of, 119
Virgin and Child, picture of, by Nicola di

Ancona, 91

INDEX

xii

Virgin and Child, picture of, ascribed to
Lorenzo di Credi, 92

Waagbn's Treasures of Art in Great

Britain, referred to, 91, 125
WahuU, Saier de, 3
Wanborough, 12

troubles with copyholders at, 16
Walpole, Sir Robert, his opinion of Wm.

Shippen, 124
Walsingham, Sir Francis, 15

letters from Wm. Darrell to, 39, 41

libel uttered against, 42

his interest secured by Wm.

Darrell, 54
claim to portions of Wm. Darrell's
lands, 60, 61
Walsingham, Ursula, Chancery suit re-
specting lands in Chilton Folyat, 14
Wards, Court of, suit in the, 14
Warwick, Earl of, jealousy of the Duke of

Somerset, 75
Warwick Castle, fire at, referred to, 77
Warwick Lane, Wm. Darrell's house in,
58

Waterloo banquet, trout sent to the, 129

Wellington, Sir John Popham buried at, 72

Col. Alex. Popham's house be-
sieged at, 78

deer from, for Littlecote, 130
'Western Alliance,' parliamentary con-
nexion called the, 103
Wharton, Philip, 4th Lord, 110

marriage of, 83

portrait of, 112

position of, in Civil Wars, 111

imprisonment of. 111

death and burial of, 112

William, killed in a duel, 110

" WildDayrell," Derby winner in 1855, 123
WiUiam TIL, portraits of, 80, 84
. . and Mary, miniature of, 119
William of Orange's rooms, description of,
84, &c.

. landing in England, 84

visit to Littlecote, 84, 97

Wine bottling, 121
Winterborne, Manor of, 10
Wulfhall, visit of Henry VIII. to, 74

York, Duke of (afterwards James II.), visit
to Littlecote, 97

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